It's extremely difficult to find an addict that didn't "try pot first" but that's only one part of the equation. Where it breaks down is when you draw the corr

It's extremely difficult to find an addict that didn't "try pot first" but that's only one part of the equation. Where it breaks down is when you draw the correlation as "most hard drug users have tried pot, so most of the people who tried pot become hardcore drug users". OF course we know that not to be the case. However if you only use the first part of the definition (as many anti marijuana advocates do) then you must acknowledge the amount of hard drug users who smoke cigarettes ( a lot ) therefore cigarettes are also a gateway drug. Still legal. I too am surprised this theory is still being peddled. Personal/anecdotal: I worked near addicts in treatment for a few years, (no I am not an expert or counselor it was a tech role) and I noticed many of them smoked cigarettes. Many of them still smoked weed too for medical purposes and it simply didn't have the adverse affects on their life that the "other" drugs did (heroin, meth, etc). It's simply not in the same class. I'm not a pot smoker and never have been, but I strongly agree with legalization based on what I've seen.