This is such a tough subject to pick a side on. Imo if people are going to start using drugs of any kind, it is usually cannabis or alcohol.

Once he/she realizes these effects don't seem to seriously alter their life in any serious way (for the most part), the jump to any other kind of intoxicant may not seem as daunting if they hadn't first made that leap to begin with. I feel like the rationalization that "hey, if marijuana didn't seriously mess me up, then I'm sure anything else won't either." The fact that a substance can alter one's state of mind that drastically is in itself a mind opener, and eases someone into something else per say. That, I can buy.

On the other hand, I have known plenty of people who started smoking, and soon gave that up in search of something stronger, with a different effect. It's all about what people are looking for in an intoxicant. If it's not one thing, it's the other. Some people just plain and simple do not want to handle sobriety, and there comes a point in their lives when they accept this to some degree and move down which ever path they chose.

That's my point though. It's all a choice. One can't blame their serious drug addiction on first starting to smoke marijuana, imo. That's a cop out to me. ~