RETHINK IT –
Jan. 6, 2025 – The gateway drug theory and many other ideas about drug use have been put into question in recent years as more resources are dedicated to understanding substance use, which has been highly stigmatized for decades. After initially labeling cannabis as a gateway drug in 2010, President Joe Biden even later walked back his stance, saying in 2019: “I don’t think it is a gateway drug. There’s no evidence I’ve seen to suggest that.”
his team found that adolescents who initiated substance use had differences in certain brain structures compared to kids who didn’t use drugs. Importantly, most differences existed before they started using alcohol, nicotine or cannabis.
