For years, one of the most relied-upon arguments for opponents of medical marijuana was the supposed “gateway drug” theory. According to the argument, it was not even worth the risk of allowing seriously ill patients to use marijuana because doing so would “send the wrong message” to teens who, having seen the joy of cancer patients smoking marijuana, would start using marijuana themselves.  Then, as sure as day follows night, these teens would move on to really dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine.

The fact that teen marijuana use has gone down, not up, in states where medical marijuana laws have been enacted has not been enough to stop the use of this flawed argument.

But now the marijuana gateway theorists have a cruel irony to confront.  While they have been busy “defending teens” by exaggerating the potential harms associated with making the use of marijuana legal for patients, teens across the country have become addicted to something truly dangerous – legal prescription drugs.

Moreover, as reported recently in Oklahona, experts and drug enforcement officials have now confirmed what many have long suspected: Prescription drugs are fast becoming the “gateway drug” of choice for America’s teens.

Here’s a key excerpt from the Associated Press story:

“Dr. Charles Shaw, an Oklahoma City-based specialist with more than 20 years of experience in treating addiction, said painkillers have replaced marijuana as a drug that people are likely to use first, before moving on to other drugs. Marijuana has long been regarded as the primary "gateway" drug.

‘Many young people experiment with pain medications and become hooked,’ he said. ‘Most of the ones I see are in their 20s and have lost everything.’”

The Oklahoma Prescription Monitoring Program also reports that supplies of prescription pain medication in Oklahoma more than doubled over a four-year period ending in 2006, and more than 600 Oklahomans died from prescription drug-related causes in 2008. There was a grand total of zero nationwide deaths from marijuana poisoning in 2008, the same as in all previous years.

It makes you wonder, if opponents of medical marijuana are against it because it’s too dangerous, when will they be launching their campaign to ban all prescription painkillers?