There is evidence to suggest that America’s most popular legal intoxicant – alcohol – is actually the main gateway drug that leads to the use of more addictive and powerful substances

See Demon alcohol – not weed – is the main “gateway drug,” according to a 2012 study by Mark Perry.

"Here’s the abstract from a research paper titled “Alcohol as a Gateway Drug: A Study of US 12th Graders” that was published in the Journal of School Health in August 2012 (emphasis added):

BACKGROUND: The Gateway Drug Theory suggests that licit drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, serve as a “gateway” toward the use of other, illicit drugs. However, there remains some discrepancy regarding which drug—alcohol, tobacco, or even marijuana—serves as the initial “gateway” drug subsequently leading to the use of illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. The purpose of this investigation was to determine which drug (alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana) was the actual “gateway” drug leading to additional substance use among a nationally representative sample of high school seniors.

METHODS: This investigation conducted a secondary analysis of the 2008 Monitoring the Future 12th-grade data. Initiation into alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use was analyzed using a Guttman scale. Coefficients of reliability and scalability were calculated to evaluate scale fit. Subsequent cross tabulations and chi-square test for independence were conducted to better understand the relationship between the identified gateway drug and other substances’ use.

RESULTS: Results from the Guttman scale indicated that alcohol represented the “gateway” drug, leading to the use of tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit substances. Moreover, students who used alcohol exhibited a significantly greater likelihood of using both licit and illicit drugs.

CONCLUSION: The findings from this investigation support that alcohol should receive primary attention in school-based substance abuse prevention programming, as the use of other substances could be impacted by delaying or preventing alcohol use. Therefore, it seems prudent for school and public health officials to focus prevention efforts, policies, and monies, on addressing adolescent alcohol use.

MP: Certain weeds in the cannabis family that are currently proscribed arbitrarily by government policy frequently get blamed for being the main “gateway drug” to more powerful substances, which then is used to justify the government’s immoral, senseless, cruel and costly War on
DrugsOtherwise Peaceful Americans Who Choose to Ingest Weeds and Plants Not Currently Approved of by the State, Which Will Put Users and Sellers of Those Weeds in Cages if Caught, Sometimes for Life. And yet, according to this study, there is evidence to suggest that America’s most popular legal intoxicant – alcohol – is actually the main gateway drug that leads to the use of more addictive and powerful substances. Since we ended the immoral, senseless, cruel and costly War on Alcohol more than 80 years ago, can we now agree that it’s time to end the War on Weeds?"