“That being said, the numbers disprove the gateway theory.”
Depends on what study you choose. As I said, fairly, there appear to be reputable studies on both sides of the issue. To pretend otherwise is dishonest.
By all means. Show me the studies that validate the gateway theory. As far as I know, they all use the “a person who has used pot is 40x (or whatever) more likely to use heroin than a person who hasn’t.” But is that what a “gateway” is? That a person who uses x was more likely to have used y than someone who didn’t use y? Or is the gateway theory more understood as a person who uses y will go on to use x. The sheer numbers disprove the latter. The former seems like common sense, but isn’t that meaningful. Like it’s any great shock that someone who uses a highly potent addicting drug that isn’t socially acceptable would not have tried or used a less potent and less addicting drug that has more social acceptance.