Stepping Stone Theory According to the stepping stone theory,
the use of one substance or drug increases the probability of
consuming another, possibly more harmful, drug later and that
the probability increases with frequency of use. It predicts
that people who use one substance such as nicotine will probably
go on to drink alcoholic beverages, smoke marijuana, and
progress on to use hard drugs such as cocaine. Each step is seen
as leading to the next step in substance use. The basis for the
stepping stone theory is the common finding that hard drug users
have usually started with substances such as tobacco and
alcohol. However, the vast majority of smokers or alcohol
consumers fail to progress on to hard drugs. It could be argued
that milk or chocolate are stepping stones toward hard drug use
because most drug users first consumed milk and chocolate.
However, neither milk nor chocolate cause people to become hard
drug users. The stepping stone theory is really a stepping stone
hypothesis, for which there is