[Eva]

What I didn’t explain is that the reason that marijuana is a Gateway is because of parental attitudes, that the marijuana is harmless. You cannot deny that, that is the attitude of marijuana users, and they just don’t take it seriously when their kids start doing it, or selling it to other kids.

When my oldest daughter was in school, it started in sixth grade, when my youngest was in school, their was a fourth grade girl selling the marijuana from her Dad’s stash. That girl’s mother ran for county auditor this year. She would have been in charge of the elections.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

The gateway claim is nonsense - research shows that the correlation between earlier marijuana use and later use of other drugs can be explained by a "common-factor" model, that is, a third factor that causes both results, such as individuals' opportunities and unique propensities to use drugs, or mor broadly a social or psychological predisposition towards anti-social behaviour. (http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB6010/index1.html, http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hors253.pdf)

What I didn’t explain is that the reason that marijuana is a Gateway is because of parental attitudes, that the marijuana is harmless.

How would that make it a gateway to harder drugs? I don't see the connection.

You cannot deny that, that is the attitude of marijuana users

I expect that it's the attitude of SOME marijuana-using parents; I have no reason to think it's the attitude of ALL marijuana-using parents.

I see I forgot to mention that the same sort of correlation between earlier marijuana and later harder drugs also exists between earlier alcohol and tobacco and later illegal drugs - so if marijuana is a "gateway" so are alcohol and tobacco.

Since you stated earlier that "there are just as many parents who allow teenagers to drink alcohol" I take it you agree that alcohol is also a gateway.