Ok lets try to get back on topic please. Thanks :)

I have no scientific proof of this, but my daughter -- who has now been "sober" for going on three years -- will tell you that her addiction(s) started with smoking marijuana. She will also freely admit that she has an addictive personality much like an alcoholic. I think most of the kids in her rehab program would tell you the same thing.

My guess is that whether pot/weed/grass is addictive depends on the user.

If nothing else, I believe that the "thrill" of doing something "illegal" can make it more likely to move on to more dangerous experimentation. Kinda like having a fake ID and drinking beer was a catalyst in moving on to drinking hard liquor for me.

Edited to add:

Krazy,

If you expect anyone to take anything you write seriously, why not back off the "know it all" attitude. You've made a number of generalities in posts on a number of threads that you can't back up with any facts. Or do you want people to blow off your comments and opinions because of your style of rhetoric?

DA - I also think it depends on WHY you are doing it - i.e., are you smoking pot because you want to and you find it fun, or because you are feeling pressured to do it by your friends or you're doing it to avoid dealing with other problems.

I do believe that there is such a thing as an addictive personality. Perhaps it is genetic. I think that pot and alcohol can be 'gateway' or starter drugs for that type of personality. Some people can smoke pot and drink alcohol and not move onto stronger drugs, while other's cannot.

Krazy, I don't think that it is fair to throw the words junkie and pusher around the way you have. There is no evidence that Al Gore III is either. Addiction is a medical problem. There is no need to moralize and judge.

I have friends who started smoking weed together. One has tried every single drug under the sun, and admits to having an addictive personality. The other stopped at weed. Different personalities and different body chemistries yield different results.

Would I call marijuana a gateway drug? Maybe, but I would be quicker to call BOREDOM a gateway drug.

I wonder if Tipper blames it on the music.