Drugs, like Pot, (A gateway drug) etc, are taken in a full blown dosage for maximum effect. there is only one level of high. And in the case of Cocaine, heroine, meth, etc,, the first few dosages set the stage for future attempts to recapture that same level of effect, but never quite measure up. the only option the user has is to greatly increase the dosage to never quite reach the original effect.
Therefore, the comparison of pot, drugs, etc, to alcohol has no credibility what so ever. they cannot even be closely associated by their nature.
You obviously have no real experience with pot. There are as many levels of "high" as there are of drunk.
It's also IMPOSSIBLE to become as impaired with pot as it is with alcohol. Anyone real experience of both knows this and would not disagree.
From experience I can tell you that it is not a "gateway" itself. The gateway is having to go through criminals and pushers to buy a stupid dry weed. While buying pot in the past, I was offered every illegal drug known, prostitutes, forged documents and illegal guns. I don't get these 'gateways' at a liquor store. My friends on the west coast don't get these 'gateways' buying from a legal dispensary.
Neither I nor the dozens of smokers I know have done hard addictive drugs. Out of dozens of smokers I don't know a single addict, hard drug user or anyone hurt by pot. OTOH, I knew two people that DIED from alcohol poisoning. I know one alcoholic locked up now because he liked beating and molesting his daughter while drunk. Countless old friends I knew from Ukraine became alcoholics and disappeared.
Both death and violence are FREQUENT results from alcohol and alcoholism. I'd like someone to show me a single case of pot poisoning, violence or abuse by a "pothead".
Before anyone comes in with a "dude" response: I don't say "dude", I don't vote leftist, I'm a mechanical/nuclear engineer and I'm tired of the inaccurate "stupid pothead" stereotypes.