Multiple Drug Use among Marijuana Smokers

Abstract

Knowledge of the process through which an individual progresses from the use of a relatively mild and almost innocuous herb as a “recreational” drug, to the sometimes frequent use of drugs which have at least the potential for damaging the body and the psyche, is patchy and conflicting. An adequate explanation of this movement simply does not exist. In light of these empirical and theoretical lacunae, we wish to offer an exploratory delineation of the use of other drugs by marijuana smokers. Although our data are too incomplete and fragmentary to yield a perspective firm and coherent enough to be called a “theory” of multiple drug use, we can, nonetheless, construct some tentative generalizations and hypotheses which should clarify and shed light on some dim corners of the field.

Reprinted in part from Erich Goode (1969) “Multiple drug use among marijuana smokers”, Social Probelms, 17: 48–64, with the permission of the publishers (the Society for the Study of Social Problems) and the author.