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It appears we pretty much agree until your last point. Glad you were able to get what I was trying to say, despite my rambling. Your version of the football analogy is fine with me. It works. As for this:

It just makes sense to me that if we reduce the number of people who smoke marijuana

Not to quibble, but I here's my thought on this. You want to try to do that, see it as laudable, I won't argue that. It's an opinion.

My take is that, again, it's not the pot. The pot might be step one or two or whatever down the yellow brick road which might lead to harder drugs, and the misery they bring, but it's simply a manifestation of a desire in that person. It could be they are simply rebellious. It could be they are recklessly curious. It could be they are emulating rock stars. Could be they are unhappy. Could be a lot of things. Which is to say even if you prevented someone from trying pot, there's some desire inside that person that I believe will eventually find an outlet.

For me personally, I always knew I wanted to try pot, and LSD. Ever since I was 8 or 9 I knew I would. And meanwhile I never touched coke or heroin, and never wanted to. That's probably not typical. But my point, I guess, is that nothing was going to stop me.

Then again, I smoked my first cigarette at age 8. I was something of a rebel child. So do you try to stop the pot smoking, or the rebellious nature that makes someone willing to try it? Again, I'm rambling, but hopefully you get my train of thought.

"My take is that, again, it's not the pot."

That's certainly possible, even likely. The researchers in the study said likewise:

"Apparent links could be noncausal given that the same characteristics may cause vulnerability to use cannabis as other illicit drugs, that is, genetic predisposition, peer-pressure, drug availability and risk-taking behavior."

But they also say, "However, the associations could also reflect actual neurobiological disturbances to early cannabis exposure that makes individuals more vulnerable to the reinforcing effects of other drugs."

"So do you try to stop the pot smoking, or the rebellious nature that makes someone willing to try it?"

It depends on what the rebellious nature can lead to. Sometimes it's harmless. Sometime it leads to very nasty things later.

All the authors are trying to say is that, according to this study, adolescent cannabis exposure contributes to greater heroin intake in adulthood. Something to be aware of.