The Drug Trail
Some people think that cannabis is heroin, some people think that smoking cannabis leads to heroin.
Where Does The Drug Trail Lead? It is a commonly held viewpoint that smoking cannabis leads onto harder drugs, such as heroin. The implication of this is that if you smoke cannabis you will get an irresistible urge to take heroin, as if smoking cannabis somehow itself causes this. However, although some heroin addicts will have innevitably started with cannabis, as well as tobacco and alcohol, this is not par for the course by any means. It is a myth which currently contributes to the severe fog and confusion that surrounds the whole drugs' issue. Like most things in life, the drug trail will lead wherever you want to follow it and wherever you want it to go. For example, you could argue that if you drink beer you will soon be on the hard stuff drinking a bottle of whiskey a day. Of course, this can be true, but for most people it is simply not! However, the opportunity is there for you if you want to exploit it, but there is no one twisting your arm. It is up to you! Most beer drinkers would never consider themselves a victim of such a scenario and that is likewise the case for most cannabis users.
People Choose For Themselves: Thousands of people up and down the country, in all walks of life, regularly use cannabis. They hold down all sorts of sensible jobs and nobody would ever know that they are regular cannabis users. Funnily enough, they do not use heroin. Why? Because smoking cannabis, per se, does not cause people to take heroin. People take heroin because they choose to take heroin. Why do people choose to take heroin? Generally because they don't know the facts! People generally try heroin because they don't realise what they're getting into. If it's available in the same street circles they can easily be led astray, and if no one advises them differently, people can get sucked in and they do! If they have smoked cannabis they will have realised that it's not that bad and that the law is obviously wrong. They may then start to think that perhaps heroin is ok too! This is down to society's stance, a lack of drug discriminination, and lack of drug education.
The Real Links? The real links between cannabis and heroin are that they are both illegal drugs lumped into the same drugs' category and both available on the streets, sometimes in the same circles. As far as the authorities and the media are concerned, when publically addressing the subject of illegal drugs, there is not enough discrimination between cannabis and heroin. They are so often simply just referred to as drugs and some people think they are the same. If you lump all drugs into the same 'illegal drugs' category with insufficient distinction between them, you give people the impression they are perhaps all somewhat the same (See Drugs, What Drugs?) and of course they are not. People have often tried cannabis for themselves, and have wondered what all the fuss is about, because, quite frankly, many people think it is quite good and that it should not be illegal. However, whatever way you look at it, it is simply not that bad, certainly when compared to alcohol and tobacco. This can cause people to question other drugs and some may well reason, if they have not been informed differently, that perhaps heroin isn't that bad either. This is a big mistake, but this is society's fault and we should , by now, know better! It is about time that we took a much more responsible approach to the whole drugs' issue with, more discrimination, more education, and more truth in the open.