Wait, so according to you alcohol being legal has kept many alcohol users from being heroin addicts, most likely because they have a legal means of accquring their preferred product, but making pot legal would increase the number of pot users, and therefore would increase the possibility of the number of heroin users because.....why is this?
Nice catch. Let the squirming commence.
The legality of alcohol has made it less likely that these law abiding "drug" users would gateway to illegal heroin.
"but making pot legal would increase the number of pot users, and therefore would increase the possibility of the number of heroin users because.....why is this?"
Making pot legal has two effects, both at odds with each other. On the one hand, a law abiding legal pot user, like today's alcohol user, will be less likely to gateway to illegal heroin.
On the other hand, there is a percentage who will gateway to illegal heroin (either from alcohol or legal pot). If the legalization of pot will increase the number of pot users (and I've always contended that pot use could at least double or triple), and a given percentage of those will gateway to heroin, we will have more heroin users.
What the NET result of both the effects combined would be, I don't know.