New research published this week in the journal JAMA Psychiatry discounts the links – often put forward by the federal government to show the “dangers” of cannabis – between marijuana use and anxiety and depression disorders.

Researchers looked into the records of those who participated in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions in 2001 and 2002 and then at the records of the same people a few years later to see how their marijuana usage affected their mental health. What they found was “cannabis use was not associated with increased risk for developing mood or anxiety disorders.”

Previous studies have found links between cannabis use and increased prevalence of mental disorders, but researchers don’t know if marijuana caused the disorders or if it was simply a matter of people who are prone to mental disorders seeking out alternative treatments, such as cannabis.

Another claim made by the study was that evidence was found of the so-called “gateway” theory, the theory that cannabis use leads people to harder drug use down the line. While this theory has been debunked time and time again, all you really need to see the fallacy in it is common sense.

While estimates of the number of regular marijuana users range from 15 to 30 million adults in the United States, the number of regular users of drugs like cocaine and heroin are only a fraction of that. If marijuana were truly a gateway, wouldn’t the number of hard drug users be closer to the number of regular marijuana users?

To take this logic even further, there are over 100 million people in the U.S. who have tried marijuana. According to many proponents of the “gateway” theory, all it takes is someone trying cannabis and they are off on a path to destruction wrought by hard drug use and addiction. With so many people trying weed, shouldn’t the number of hard drug users be much, much higher?

If you ask a group of hard drug users if they’ve ever smoked marijuana, it’s likely upwards of 80% of them will say yes. This is the foundation of the “gateway” theory, but if you ask that same group if they’ve ever consumed milk, you’d probably get a similar result.

Does drinking milk lead to shooting heroin?

In the end, marijuana research can show a lot, depending on who his doing the study. Until recently, up to 94% of research into cannabis was directed at finding the negative effects. Only now are we beginning to see some of the true potential the cannabis plant has.