In my opinion,
marijuana wouldn't be a gateway drug if it were legal.
Here's how I think it works:
- Before you've ever tried pot, you've been told by all sorts of mainstream authorities (parents, schools, wholesome celebrities, politicians, etc.) that pot is evil, and that within 2 weeks of smoking pot for the first time you will end up homeless on the street giving hand jobs for crack.
- You try pot anyway.
- It turns out that most of the warnings you heard about pot were lies and propaganda.
- You conclude, logically, that everything mainstream authorities are telling you about drugs should be looked upon skeptically. Since smoking pot turned out to be a pretty good thing, you decide it makes sense to try some other illegal drugs. "Maybe there's even a correlation between how dangerous the authorities try to make a drug sound and how good it actually is..."
When I was a teenager my parents, etc. were pretty honest with me about marijuana, alcohol, and mushrooms (or at least they exposed me to honest information), so when they gave me warnings about coke and heroin, they had some credibility left.
I think every teenager should be given a copy of the book From Chocolate to Morphine : Everything You Need to Know About Mind-Altering Drugs by Andrew Weil M.D. and Winifred Rosen. It's got honest information about all kinds of drugs, and excellent first hand accounts from users and abusers -- everything a young person or adult needs to make informed decisions about what drugs to use, how to limit risks when using various types of drugs, and why it's probably a terrible idea to use I.V. drugs.