HMMM...I used tobacco LONG before I tried cannabis. You know why? Because my parents told me not too! What adolescent kid is not rebellious to some degree? I tried cannabis because the older and more popular kids (in my day being a pot head was not only acceptable in school 'clicks' it was very cool) and what kid does not want too 'fit in'. I tried alcohol because I saw adults drinking like they were dying of thirst. what kid does not want to feel like an adult? I tried cocaine because I had money available to me and it was a 'status symbol'. What kid does not want to feel 'better than'. I tried acid because I was a dead head...ok so that is a bit different LOL! Anyway cannabis has never made me do any drugs that I didn't want to do and was exposed too and made aware of mostly by the media, my parents, and the school system. The surest way to get a kid to do something is to tell them they can't!
But as I stated in an earlier post on this thread...MILLIONS of Americans have smoked pot at least once. If the 'gateway' theory had any basis in fact, would there not be millions of smack addicts, meth heads, coke fiends as well? C'mon people! The anti-cannabis propaganda is so pervasive in the US that even some of us 'pot heads' have bought into this absurd ignorance.
As my last point on this subject...may people die each year from medically prescribed drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, aspirin etc. How many deaths can be directly attributed to use of cannabis??? ZERO!!! Not one, not now not ever. PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT! LMFAO!!