Any research in the field of drug use faces the snakepit of public controversy. The present book should add a new snake to the pit of public debate about marihuana and other drugs. The central theme of the book is that involvement in drug selling, and not the use of marihuana, is the basic factor leading to increased participation in subcultures of drug use. It is participation in drug subcultures, and not the use of drugs, which links marihuana use to various unconventional activities such as hard-drug use, crime, political militancy, and certain patterns of sexual behavior.

But the data demonstrate that almost all drug sellers sell marihuana and that marihuana selling emerges from marihuana use. Since marihuana users have no legal way to obtain the supplies they need, many regular users become involved in selling. Thus, marihuana selling provides the "stepping stone" to hard-drugusing friends, hard-drug use and sale, and deep involvement in the drug subculture. If there is a causal link between marihuana use and sale, and if this link is the crucial factor in hard-drug use and unconventional behavior, perhaps a fundamental change in drug control laws, including governmental distribution of marihuana, may be warranted.

But, regardless of the policy conclusions which might be drawn from the analysis presented, this book should be useful to a wide variety of readers. It contributes to understanding the epidemiology or "why" of soft- and hard-drug use. The book explores major controversies about drug use: Why do students use marihuana? Why do people sell drugs? Does marihuana use "lead to" heroin use? To crime? To delinquency? To poor school performance? Are drug laws efficiently and fairly enforced? Empirical evidence is used to test various theories. After analyzing several controversies, the subculture theory appears to provide the best understanding of the data.

Subculture theory has been utilized to explain deviance and crime, but has not been carefully applied to drug use. The first chapter of this book attempts to further clarify the concept of a "subculture," while the concluding chapter links empirical evidence about drug use to subculture theory. Hence, drug use among college students, and increasingly among high school students, appears to be somewhat similar to processes by which persons are recruited into deviant careers, but with the difference that drug use is becoming legitimated within adolescent culture and hence is not defined as "bad" by other young people.

Since this book is addressed to students, teachers, school administrators, public officials, and laymen interested in the "why" of drug use, as well as to drug researchers and sociologists, I have tried to simplify the presentation of difficult data. Although simplifying complexity is never easy, I hope that the presentation of graphs will help the reader visualize the important findings which are also summarized in the caption of each graph. For interested researchers, the detailed data is presented in Appendix A. Also included is the survey questionnaire which contains many ideas and hypotheses that have not been explored in this book.

The basic thrust of the book is to urge the liberalization of drug laws. Since one technique used by opponents of change is to cast doubt upon the moral character of the researcher, and since almost no one can be completely "value free" in analyzing a controversial topic such as drugs, a few comments about myself are in order. In general, I consider myself, and my friends consider me, to be relatively conventional in terms of life style and values. The choice of indices and topics to be analyzed probably represent my sociological conservatism.

My experience with drugs is severely limited. I have no use for, and perhaps an allergy to, tobacco. I abstained from alcohol until age 22. A doctor administered cocaine and Demerol to me while on the operating table, and provided me with a sleeping pill during recovery. I have a permanent scar incurred from striking a bedpost while passing out during a "bad trip"—on two No Doz tablets. I have never used marihuana or other illicit drugs, partly because I expected that I might be arguing for a fundamental change in drug laws, and that my use of drugs could be used as an excuse by opponents of marihuana use to ignore the validity of my findings. Despite my moral convictions against and lack of experience with drugs, the data and logic developed in the book convince me that fundamental changes in marihuana laws are needed.

This book builds upon my Ph.D. thesis which is separately published. I acknowledge with appreciation the guidance of Bernard Barber and assistance in data collection provided by Robert Falisey. When I was swamped in a morass of data, Daniel Sullivan suggested the additive model of marihuana use which is presently Chapter 4. I am indebted to critical comments provided by Erich Goode and Denise Kande!, and the typing talents of Valarie Idlett, Karen Wallen, Bambi Gross, Ann Sullivan, Sara Nicoll and Gladys Burkhart.
The study would not have been possible without the financial help given, directly and indirectly, by Columbia University. This help included small research grants provided by the Department of Sociology, the use of an Optical Scanning Machine at Teachers College Computer Center, and the many free hours of computer time provided by the Columbia University Computer Center. In addition, the Computer Center at Psychiatric Institute and Rockland State Hospital were also utilized.

The largest debt, which can never be repaid, is to the 3500 students and friends of students who completed the questionnaire voluntarily. Furthermore, the 21 colleges and more than 100 instructors who permitted the questionnaire to be administered during regular class hours must be acknowledged.

Most importantly, the patience and cooperation of my wife Theresa was central to this book. Not only did she carefully edit the multitude of "final" drafts, but she "liberated" me from the traditional male role of supporting the family while I collected the data, wrote my thesis, and then provided moral support while I wrote the present manuscript.

Bruce D. Johnson
New York, N.Y., 1972