[LeonardFMason]

Marijuana IS a GATEWAY DRUG. My brother a struggling heroin addict, clean for 3 years now, says so. I asked him if it was just an excuse, which addicts are always making, and he said that 9 out of 10 heroin addicts in every counseling session over his 25 year addiction say it all started with smoking a joint and getting high. It started a chase for the next, better, high.

Smoking pot doesn’t mean you will become an heroin addict, however, it certainly facilitates the possibility.

If Pot use proliferates you will inevitably see more serious addictions.

[Yaelle]

Marijuana IS a GATEWAY DRUG.

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So is drinking water. And eating carrots.

Major drug addicts did those things as well.

[NobleFree]

Most people who use pot don't go on to the hard stuff; with those who do, the sequence can equally well be explained by a general propensity for mind alteration and the greater ease of finding pot; and the same sort of number-crunching that identifies pot as a gateway also does so for alcohol and tobacco.

[Ken H]

Marijuana IS a GATEWAY DRUG.

So why aren't OD rates skyrocketing in states that have legalized? They are doing better overall with respect to ODs than prohibition states. See CA and OR, for example =>

Source for graphic => https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/images/data/2010_2016DrugOverdose-Deaths-Graphic.JPG

[Vermont Lt]

Beer is more of a gateway drug than pot.

The whole gateway drug argument is a red herring. If you truly want to save lives make alcohol and tobacco illegal. That stuff kills millions.

We’ve tried prohibition. It doesn’t work.