There are many people in recovery from hard-core addictions who do not care if there is a scientifically provable link between marijuana and stronger drugs.

These are simply addicts who know that marijuana was part of their addiction-oriented lifestyle. They also remember that marijuana frequently includes symptoms of anxiety and paranoia. This lends itself to taking a sedative and an alcoholic beverage is often the sedative that is easiest to reach. So, marijuana and alcohol are not linked from a specific biological cause and effect, but the link is still viable enough for someone facing a life in recovery knows enough to avoid marijuana use if they want to stay clean and sober.

Just as coffee is not biologically linked to smoking a cigarette, those who smoke frequently say they combine the two and that sitting down with a cup of coffee – if they manage to quit smoking – frequently gives them the urge to smoke.

There is a chemical correlation. Coffee contains caffeine, which is a stimulant and those who take long drags on a cigarette know nicotine in cigarettes has a calming effect. Are they biologically connected? Perhaps not. But there is a relationship between the two, nonetheless.

Much of this careless attitude comes from the 1960s and 1970s, when marijuana was a very common recreational drug of choice by the hippies in the so-called “hippie movement.” It is no coincidence that this generational rebelliousness included political dissent against the Vietnam War. It is, in fact, a major contributor to the story of marijuana use in the United States.

The reason this is pertinent is because marijuana, in what might be called its heyday, was illegal across the country, which meant the millions of young people were breaking the law, some of them quite openly at concerts or other public gatherings.

Young people who were adamantly opposed to their government were, it could be said, flagrantly breaking the country’s drug laws. There is a correlation there.

This is because anyone using marijuana was, essentially, a criminal, which factors into marijuana use today. In the first place, without massive opposition against the government, the willingness among youngsters to break the country’s drug laws has dropped. People, after all, get acclimated to lawlessness and youngsters today are less willing to cross that line, because there are few lawless friends that form a support group if they choose to do so.

Secondly, marijuana is now legal in four states, decriminalized nearly 20 others. This creates an untested societal response to the drug that should concern even those who favor legalization.
Just as legalized alcohol helped reduce various crimes, it did not make problems associated with drinking disappear. The same applies to marijuana use. The problems inherent with smoking marijuana persist whether it is legal or not.

What falls away, however, is the criminal element regarding marijuana, as outlined by recent La Paloma information on marijuana legalization and abuse. Where marijuana is legal, people who want to indulge no longer have to contact your friendly, local drug smuggler in order to use it. They no longer have to associate with the underground suppliers in their neighborhood. The drug dealer of the past is now the drug retailer. From a cultural point of view, the difference could hardly be more pronounced.

But marijuana remains a drug that impairs decision making and is highly dangerous when combined with operation of machinery or other activities that are risky enough without decision-making handicaps.