Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40930972›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology reports2025

Concerns Regarding Masataka et al.'s "Revisiting the Gateway Drug Hypothesis for Cannabis: A Secondary Analysis of a Nationwide Survey Among Community Users in Japan".

Zui C Narita

Abstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychopharmacology reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Zui C NaritaDepartment of Behavioral Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7022-2141

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Masataka et al.'s cannabis gateway study misrepresents the 43.8% probability of cannabis users transitioning to illegal drugs as "rare," and misuses regression via the Table 2 Fallacy. These critical issues discredit their conclusion.

Indexed as

CannabisIllicit DrugsMarijuana AbuseMarijuana UseHumansJapanSurveys and QuestionnairesIllicit Drugsabsolute riskcausal inferenceodds ratioprediction modelspublic healthresearch ethicsresearch integrityscientific rigorsubstance epidemiologyTable 2 Fallacy

Identifiers

PMID40930972
PMCPMC12422866

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.