Duh, and don't forget caffeine, Taylor. The point that Kirk is
making is not physiological, but sociological. Pot, hash, LSD,
etc. don't lead to "hard" drug use (coke, heroin, meth, etc.,
IMO) because of some physiological need to graduate from a reefer
high to a coke high, but because immersion in the "soft drug"
culture is more likely to put you in contact with people who use
and provide "hard drugs" thus increasing the opportunity and
chance for hard drug use.
Obviously, soft drugs that are legal--sugar, caffeine, nicotine,
aspirin, Robotussin, et al--do not increase your likelihood of
running into hard drug users/pushers. The exception to that might
be alcohol. Speaking as a former heavy drinker and barfly, it's a
hell of a lot easier to score drugs (hard or soft) in a bar than
in a coffee shop.
All in all, it's a fairly good argument for legalization of drugs
like marijuana and LSD. But, since I'm self-righteously clean and
sober these days, I'm required to add that life is a hell of a
lot better without ANY drugs and alcohol.
-- Greg Ritter gritter@felix.vcu.edu ritter@urvax.urich.edu http://www.urich.edu/~ritter