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2020-10-21 08:56:43
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The concept of gateway hypothesis has been studied since the 1970s (Kandel, 1975, Kandel and Faust, 1975) as the theory suggests that an adolescent's early experimentation with alcohol or tobacco or cannabis escalates to more addictive illicit drugs later in adulthood (Lynskey et al., 2003). Most commonly used illicit substances include heroin/opioids, cocaine and or amphetamines and their designer drug analogs, considered illegal by the criminal justice system in the United States and other jurisdictions. Early onset or drug experimentation has been elaborated and characterized in distinct pathways in the substance abuse and dependence literature. Overall, the theory has had mixed results showing both a link or sequence of licit drug use to illicit drug use (Guxens et al., 2007, Guxens et al., 2007, Korhoene et al., 2010, Lessem et al., 2006, Mayet et al., 2012) and no association (Mackesy-Amiti et al., 1997, Golub and Johnson, 1994).