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...but that isn’t scientific, that’s the mistake of “correlation is causation”.

I came to the USA from the UK at 16. The schools in the UK never said a thing about pot and I didn’t know anyone using it.

In my new USA high school our “health ed” class gave the impression that pot is incredibly dangerous, incredibly addictive, etc. etc.. I had no reason to believe otherwise.

...until I became aware that just about EVERYONE I HAD COME TO KNOW had at least tried it, if not using fairly regularly. I was shocked, although I didn’t see any of these people as “addicts”, they had good grades and had jobs etc.. So at a point I tried it too and found it to be nothing even close to what the teachers in high school had claimed. It was a lie. At this moment the thoughts ran through my head, “what else have they lied about?”. What about cocaine? What about all the others?

My point is, the kids stopped believing the “education” because they were inaccurate about weed. They lowered the “concern threshold” of trying other drugs. Also, if you’re likely to try hard drugs at some point, you’re likely try weed first only due to it being so very available - but that has nothing to do with weed being the “gateway” to everything else. I only knew of a couple of people that went on to do harder drugs - out of hundreds.

I’d argue cigarettes are the primary “gateway drug” as it’s the first thing kids growing up see adults smoking. The very concept of “smoking” would be a foreign concept without cigarettes. Without them, as far as weed is concerned, it would be the first time a kid would see somebody “smoke” anything - which would obviously be perceived as stupid.

At the end of the day, drinking, smoking tobacco, smoking weed are ALL indicators of addictive traits, of course somebody that is willing to do harder drugs will, most likely, try these first. MOST people that do try these DON’T go on to try anything harder.

To think that somebody wouldn’t do hard drugs unless they started on weed is weak - it’s only “on the path” due to accessibility, same as cigarettes - but nobody says that. I’d like to see a study of kids having divorced parents as it related to harder drug use. The whole issue of “seeking a higher high” is rooted in other problems, it isn’t CAUSED by weed.

Frankly, people who smoke weed, drink, smoke cigarettes, aren’t committing crime to get the next drink, the next joint, etc. - criminalizing it isn’t the answer. People who do the harder drugs are willing to do anything for their next “fix”. Prohibition of common substances isn’t good policy, it turns otherwise law abiding people into criminals.

Ugh...sorry for the long post :)