Acceptance of Drug Use Mediates Future Hard Drug Use Among At-Risk Adolescent Marijuana, Tobacco, and Alcohol Users

Extending the Marijuana Gateway Hypothesis Beyond Drug Use to Violent Offending: Examining Dual Systems Imbalance as a Mediator

“…This study was novel in examining the gateway effect of marijuana use as a predictor of violent offending. While this phenomenon has been examined extensively as it pertains to initiation of other drug use (Cappelli et al, 2021; Kandel et al, 1992; Keyes et al, 2019), this was the first extension of this relationship to violent offending. Results indicated that individuals who initiated marijuana use prior to baseline were at greater risk for engagement in violent offending later on even after controlling for prior violent offending.…”

“…The gateway hypothesis posits that marijuana is a “gateway” drug that opens the door and increases risk for harder drug use later on (Kandel & Faust, 1975; Kandel et al, 1992). A great deal of research has focused on this phenomenon and indeed indicated that marijuana use generally does precede the use of harder drugs in terms of chronology (Cappelli et al, 2021; Kandel et al, 1992; Keyes et al, 2019). In testing this hypothesis, a range of psychological mechanisms have been posited to help understand this progression from marijuana use to other drug use (Levine et al, 2011; Li et al, 2014; Williams, 2020).…”

“…In a general sense, prior research has indicated that use of certain soft drugs (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana) does precede the use of hard drugs (opioids, cocaine, amphetamines, etc.) in terms of progression (Cappelli et al, 2021; Kandel et al, 1992; Keyes et al, 2019). However, research regarding the mechanisms by which these relationships are posited to occur is a bit more equivocal.…”