Is Reefer Madness the New "Exit Drug?"

(Not a gateway drug)

I've never been a big believer in the whole "gateway drug" theory. That's because back in my day, I dabbled in whatever shit was en vogue at the time. I never got into anything too heavy -- I've noted my needle-phobia -- but depending on which of my friends had gotten paid that week, and what was on hand with the local dealer, we might spend an afternoon passing a bong, snorting a few lines or chewing a few 'shrooms. Once or twice in the 80s I think there might have been the rare hit of Ecstasy or some other club drug but, really, who can remember? 

(Not madness.)

My point is that none of them really served as a "gateway" to the other. Each had their own effect, some of which I liked more than others, but could take or leave. Cocaine never took hold with me -- it just made me twitchy and too chatty. I liked pot for certain things and in certain situations, but it never became problematic the way alcohol did. I never wanted to toke up before work or on my lunch hour, for example, and it never made me pick fights with strangers. 

Which brings me to the brave new world of "exit drugs." Here is none other than Dr. Oz yesterday, explaining how reefer madness might just save us all from the opioid epidemic. (And yes, I did just link to High Times.)

(Not a doctor.)

Look I'm no doctor, I just play one on the internet. But you'll forgive me if I remain a tad skeptical. My drug of choice, my addiction, was always (and remained for 30 years) simple booze. If the occasional bong-hit didn't lead me to powerballing heroin and morphine back in the day, then I'm a little skeptical that bogarting a doobie now will do much to stop an Oxy jones. 

If we want to talk about which is safer* overall, fine. But could we stop talking about drugs as if their effects are interchangeable or that abuse of one leads inexorably to abuse of them all? Or the reverse, that substituting one for another will somehow solve one's addiction to a specific thing? Or one's general desire to be altered? Because in my experience neither has proven true, just sayin. 

*Clue: It's pot.