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UK: Cannabis use by children 'raises risk of using hard drugs'

Jeremy Laurance

The Independent

Wednesday 22 Jan 2003

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Chlidren who smoke cannabis are up to five times more likely to progress to
harder drugs than those who delay experimenting with marijuana until they
are older, a study has found.

Those who started before the age of 17 were between 2.1 and 5.2 times more
likely to develop problems with drinking or drug addiction, according to a
study of twins.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
lend weight to the "gateway" hypothesis that suggestsmarijuana use leads
young people on to harder drugs. But an editorial said this did not mean
that all young people who tried marijuana would become heroin or cocaine
addicts.

Researchers studied 311 pairs of twins of the same sex, where only one twin
had used cannabis before 17. Twins share the same background and family
experiences and identical twins share the same genetic risk.

The study was conducted in Australia between 1996 and 2000, when the twins
were aged 30 on average. The researchers took into account known risk
factors such as early drinking or smoking (of tobacco), divorce, sex abuse
or depression, and found they had little effect on the results. There was
also no difference between fraternal and identical twins.

The authors said the findings show drug use cannot be solely determined by
genetic and/or shared environmental factors. Peer pressure and the social
context in which cannabis use occurs may also be factors. "In particular,
early access to the use of cannabis may reduce perceived barriers against
the use of other illegal drugs and provide access to these drugs," they said.

In a commentary on the findings, Denise Kandel of Columbia University said
curbing marijuana use should prevent abuse of other drugs.

 

 

 

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