Dennis said:
I agree with most of your post, but the tax myth one. I don't think it's the same growth rate because if it was, how could the tobacco industry flourish when people could just sit at home, grow their tobacco and smoke it chemical free and tax free. The fact of the matter is, is that tobacco is harder to grow and very soil demanding unlike bud.
Well, it has to do with early U.S. Colonial History, really. What made British colony trade primarily thrive (there were other trades, but not as lucrative), was the tobacco trade that boomed in early British colonial America. Much of the tobacco industry is centred around Virginia in the U.S. - which happened to be the site of the first settlements in what would become the U.S. The tobacco trade was so lucrative with consumers in Britain (and it's other extended trading partners), that really, it could be argued the tobacco trade is what made the British colonies into a successful entity. The British tended to have a penchant for allowing huge monopolies to exist in the market during the time, and the early settlers finding that tobacco, for what it is worth, was rather easy to grow and cultivate and was making good money decided to more or less corner the market. Even today, the big tobacco companies selling cigarettes et al. in the U.S. have origins back to the early settlers. With so much money coming in (in conjunction with New England's shipping wealth) it became a symbiotic necessity almost to have both 'industries' thrive in the 'to-be U.S.' and so a lot of leverage was given to the tobacco industry which more or less has led to it's seemingly nonsensical untouchable status today...it wasn't necessarily hard to cultivate back in the day, but it has been made (trade protectionism) so that it isn't something you can really grow in your backyard...(and true, it does need a certain set of conditions to grow optimally, but more or less tobacco can be grown anywhere in the East, from what I've seen/read/have been told; I don't know about the west, but I imagine hypothetically, if food wasn't important, more could be grown out there, too)...marijuana is certainly easier to grow (hence the name 'weed'...), but the discrepancy isn't that great. The taxation/regulation barrier isn't that great, and would likely actually boost the market, rather than stymie it, as it has for the tobacco industry (until the more recent twenty years or so...).
The 'Gateway' hypothesis is also a weak barrier, because it could again apply to so many things, and in fact is more or less a principle/law when referring to things outside of supposed 'illicit' substances. Fast foods, sugars, etc. can cause the same effect. It's really just how the human brain works. Hell, even dating/relationships work on a simliar psychological precept. It has to do with addictive personality traits, which to some degree all people have more or less. You hook up with a man/woman and spend enough 'positively rewarding' (long walks on the beach, or...other... activities) time with such a person, and you become 'addicted' to the person, which can cause a critical situation of people wanting 'more' from their partner, or not being satisfied with the 'same old, same old', hence why you hear on the news, or read online all those repetitive articles about 'spicing up your life', because the change gives you that better 'high'...and often things get stale, and there's no logical reason for the discontent, but it happens, and all of a sudden there's infidelity and divorce...or if a spouse passes away, the 'heartbreak' really is a sickness - it's basically like going through a drug withdrawal, and the more you've been exposed to the 'drug' (in this case a person), the harsher it is going to be.
Food can work the same. For the average-sized of us, we can be shocked seeing rather obese people that eat more than we can imagine, and much of it empty calories on junk food, but the fact is they are an addict, much like a heroin-addict is one. It starts with one hamburger, and a carton of fries, and soon enough it can turn into Super Size...
(Yes, I know Super Size doesn't exist anymore, and I know there are other factors involved in both examples, but it's the basic foundation I'm talking about, not the entire scope of the subject, nor an intense study of an individual)
...the 'illicit' drugs work the same way. Where things tend to go wrong in all of the instances where a 'Gateway Effect' could take over, is portion control. Yeah, I know, another catchword, but it tends to be true. Since there is no real 'Best Practices to Shooting Up', getting a heroin dose that wouldn't be harder to resist than the average addictive substance (relationships, sugar, fast-food, etc...) is going to be difficult, as there's no official regulation other than a ban to measure such. A see-saw effect comes into place, where the higher you go, the harder you fall, and the fall is so harsh, which is what leads many addicts to become desperate for the next high, if they can't maintain one on their own.
...in principal, though, outside of the complications, which can be addressed, who is someone to say how someone should get their high, or to outlaw certain means of addiction over another. Are we going to outlaw relationships, fast-food, tobacco, alcohol...? Statistically, those kill more people than the supposedly feared illicit substances, like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc...
...basically one of the main reasons that alcohol and tobacco aren't outlawed, is because the enforcement would be near-impossible. The backlash from Prohibition, was well...prohibitive. The only reason the things outlawed are outlawed, is mainly because people let them...
I'd argue that with proper discipline, the 'illicit' substances could be used just as responsibly, or even better than the addictive substances that we are able to consume legally. It takes discipline to go on a diet, and it is the same principle at hand, with any other substance we consume. It
is persons with a lack of enough willpower (not a criticism, but a fact - some things take more willpower than others to control...) that results in the 'Gateway Effect' becoming reality.
