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The "Gateway" Theory

• The "gateway" theory asserts that youthful exposure to alcohol sets an individual on a virtually uninterruptible and unavoidable path toward the use of illegal, hard drugs.
• The theory purports to argue that biomedically the initial use of alcohol activates a pleasure center in the brain which gradually requires ever more powerful stimulants to maintain pleasurable sensations, thus virtually forcing an individual to illegal, hard drug use of heroin, cocaine and so forth.
• The theory attempts to prove this concept by stating that virtually all illegal drug users have first tried alcohol. This use of alcohol first then supposedly moves the user to a virtually inevitable and uninterruptible path to illegal, hard drugs.
• Gateway theory proponents then argue that alcohol beverages must be excessively taxed and rigidly controlled in every conceivable manner to ensure that alcohol cannot be used be any adolescent. This is despite the fact that it already is illegal for individuals under 21 to drink.

Critical Weaknesses and Flaws in the "Gateway" Theory

• Biomedical Flaws
  • The fact is that the pseudo-scientific "gateway" theory is not a biomedical concept. The idea that biomedical evidence somehow supports a gateway effect is based on misconceptions that are contradicted by scientific evidence. There is no automatic chain from alcohol use to hard, illegal drug use.
  • It is a misconception that somehow the adolescent brain is uniquely sensitive to potentially addicting substances that make the adolescent biologically vulnerable.
  • It is a misconception that alcohol somehow changes the adolescent brain in ways that differ from the adult brain.
  • It is a misconception that the initial use of a so-called "gateway" product, such as alcohol, arouses a "pleasure" system in the brain that makes the user eventually demand and require more powerful substances (illegal, hard drugs).
• Social Theory Flaws
  • Since there is no biomedical basis to the "gateway" theory, the theory relies on social science theories that are purportedly supported by opinion surveys.
  • Such surveys reportedly have found that alcohol use precedes marijuana use, which in turn precedes hard drug use (cocaine or heroin) by adolescents. These surveys have several critical flaws:
    • The vast majority of youth who have experimented with alcohol for decades and decades do so without ever going to illegal drug use.
    • The majority of individuals use alcohol responsibly and do not become alcoholics, and certainly not hard drug users.
    • The adolescent often does stop the experimental use of alcohol and even hard drugs based on their individual and family values and self-discipline. Indeed, use of hard, illegal drugs is related more directly to self-esteem, peer groups and family values than to some theory of predetermined behavior which renders the individual virtually helpless.
    • The same studies that propose alcohol as a "gateway" drug show that most adolescents who try alcohol do not try hard drugs. Proof of causation of alcohol use "gatewaying" to hard drug use does not exist.

"Gateway" Advocates' Policy Prescriptions Must Be Viewed With Suspicion

• "Gateway" proponents recommend dramatically increased excise taxes on alcohol "as a deterrent to use" by youth:
  • Since most youth experiment with alcohol they themselves do not purchase, higher alcohol excise taxes would be ineffectual against first use.
  • Purchase by those under age 21 is illegal in all states, regardless of price.
  • If raising the excise tax would not be effective or achieve the desired purpose, there is no reason to penalize the majority of adults who drink responsibly.
• "Gateway" advocates argue for "equal time for counter-advertising targeted toward underage youth" without recognizing that it would be ineffective.
  • The proposal assumes that initial alcohol consumption would predispose one to use of illegal drugs which is shown above to be untrue. Therefore, it would have little or no effect on drug use.
  • The voluntary "Code of Good Practice" of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., Inc. (DISCUS) contains recommendations that restrict the advertising of distilled spirits to adult consumers and prohibit the advertising of distilled spirits to minors.
  • There is no scientific evidence linking brand advertising to initiating alcohol consumption, increasing consumption or alcohol abuse.
• We urge strict enforcement by each state of its minimum drinking/purchase age laws.
• Adolescent use of illegal drugs is a complex problem attributable to many social and economic factors, including family upbringing, education and peer pressure.
  • Parents can influence their children's behavior by assuring responsible examples of behavior at home and school, by supervising the selection of their children's friends, and by instilling a sound system of values.
• "Any serious attempt to change patterns of drug use must involve changes in the culture, and education promises to be the most likely way of altering both individual choices and cultural patterns. Whereas `the control model' of prevention unrealistically relies on formal legislative and regulatory controls, `the sociocultural model' emphasizes more powerful informal social controls."

[Dwight Heath, "Cultural Factors in the Choice of Drugs", in Recent Developments in Alcoholism, Vol. 8, ed. by Marc Galanter, New York: Plenum Press, 1990.]