I know a Dr. Whose entire practice is treating opioid addicts. He is politically liberal, so I was surprised at his answer when I posed the question: “How many of your patients began their drug use with pot?” His response: “100%”. Of course not all pot users will escalate to opioids, but according to this Dr., it absolutely is a gateway drug, and probably more so since I asked him because that was before decriminalization and the “legal” stuff is far more potent. It’s legal so use it if you want, but saying it’s not a gateway drug simply isn’t true.