ELTON JOHN IS SPOT ON ..... POT IS ADDICTIVE AND A DANGEROUS GATEWAY DRUG

Why Elton John believes legalizing marijuana in America was 'one of the worst decisions of all time'

 

By Cassidy Morrison 

Daily Mail

Dec 11, 2024

Music icon Elton John has shared his views on the marijuana debate in the US, describing the drug as addictive and labeling its legalization as a mistake

 

Music icon Elton John has weighed in on the marijuana debate in the US, calling the drug addictive and deeming legalization a mistake. 

The ‘Benny and the Jets’ singer told Time Magazine, which named him Icon of the Year: ‘Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.’

The EGOT winner, who has been sober since 1990, called the substance ‘addictive’ and said using pot leads to using other drugs. 

Music icon Elton John has weighed in on the marijuana debate in the US, calling the drug addictive and deeming legalization a mistake. 

The ‘Benny and the Jets’ singer told Time Magazine, which named him Icon of the Year: ‘Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.’

The EGOT winner, who has been sober since 1990, called the substance ‘addictive’ and said using pot leads to using other drugs. 

While advocates for legalization have long argued that cannabis is neither addictive nor harmful, but, in fact, helpful, a growing number of researchers and doctors are pointing to harms associated with the drug including psychosis and brain damage.  

A growing body of research has found that an estimated 16 million Americans qualify as being addicted to weed.

Mr John said marijuana was a constant in his early career, with his band in the 1970s smoking ‘for years’ before his manager introduced him to cocaine, though he hasn't indicated his marijuana use influenced his transition to cocaine.

The belief marijuana is a gateway drug dates back to the 1980s and is still held by millions of people of an older generation, though numerous studies have found this to be untrue.

The legalization of marijuana for recreational use in 24 states and Washington, DC has been celebrated by millions but looked at with caution by mental health and addiction experts who have consistently noted the inadequate research into the schedule one drug that has failed to grasp whether it’s as harmless as its advocates say.

 

Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, though others have legalized it only for medicinal purposes

 

The musician has battled drug addiction since the 1970s, admitting in his 2012 memoir that he spent much of the 1980s ‘in and out of a drug-fueled haze.’

Since getting sober, he has offered to help other high-profile faces, including Eminem, Robbie Williams, and Lady Gaga.

He said it was his own struggles with drugs, as well as his involvement in other people’s lives and troubles, that changed his views surrounding legal cannabis and its potential as an invitation to try even harder drugs.

‘It leads to other drugs,’ Mr John told Time, ‘And when you’re stoned — and I’ve been stoned — you don’t think normally.’

Marijuana has been dubbed a ‘gateway drug’ for years, a hypothesis that psychiatrists from around the world say has not been proven conclusively.

Several studies dating back to 2000 conclude that ‘a large proportion, but not all, of individuals who use cannabis go on to use other illegal drugs.’

A 2016 report published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found about 45 percent of people who ever used cannabis ended up using other illegal drugs at some point in their lives.

In the second year after they first used cannabis, there was a less-than-nine percent chance they would try other illicit drugs.

 

The 'Benny and the Jets' singer's [center] own history of substance misuse and his experiences with others have shaped his perspective on legal weed. He is pictured with Cher and Diana Ross in 1975, about a year after Mr John was introduced to cocaine

The link between recreational marijuana use and alcohol consumption in recent years has been most significant among younger adults 18 to 24 

 

On the other hand, a survey by the American Addiction Centers found that, following alcohol, marijuana and tobacco were widely used as second and third substances of choice. 

The hitmaker’s perspective is a minority view in the US, where the Pew Research Center reported that 29 percent of Americans believed that legal access to marijuana would increase the use of other drugs, like heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, while 42 percent said it would have no impact.

Meanwhile, marijuana dependence is getting greater attention from researchers.

Long believed to be non-habit forming, around 30 percent of current smokers meet the criteria for addiction, in part because the weed of the 2020s is far more potent than that of the 1990s, with smokable products containing as much as 25 percent THC.

And the number of regular users is on the rise. A federal survey in 2019 found that 31.6 million people 12 and older used marijuana in the past 30 days, up from about 22 million five years prior.

In 2023, that figure soared to 61 million people.