Is marijuana a ‘gateway drug’, luring users into a cycle of dependency on ever-more dangerous substances? That’s one theory, but a look at data on actual drug use tells a different story.
The annual US federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration survey maps the drug habits of around 70,000 randomly-selected Americans, to draw a picture of the ways in which drug use changes.
Advocacy group Treatment4Addiction analysed this year’s data and created an interactive that traces how users switch from one drug to another.