[Hoot Gibson]

Could the reason be that dealers that deal pot, also deal harder drugs? Would it be a gateway drug if it could be bought in stores, like cigarettes? Would cigarettes be a gateway drug, if it were illegal, and peddled by dealers? What makes a gateway drug is a drug that you get used to, and need other things to get that high you once got. Pot will give you the same high 30 years after your first use. You can get used to cocaine, and lose the ability to get that initial high, therefore you would look for something else to "get you there". That doesn't happen with pot. The only gateway part of pot is the fact that the same dealers that peddle it, peddle the harder stuff, and can push you toward the harder, more addictive drugs.

You don't seem to be wanting to admit it, but breaking the law to get high is what makes marijuana a gateway drug. You are correct that in many cases, the person supplying marijuana is the same person who sells cocaine and heroin - but that really is an argument that marijuana is a gateway drug, is it not?

Do you support legalizing all drugs, or do you just want to make an exception for marijuana because it is your drug of choice? Cannot the same arguments that you make in favor of legalizing marijuana use be made for legalizing cocaine? If not, then what gives you, or the government, the right to decide which drugs are good and which ones are bad? Should that not be a personal decision, as long as the use of the drug does not affect other Americans?