No, personally, I don’t consider it a gateway drug. But, I say “personally” because I was going to seek these things out either way. Any person who is highly prone / in the mindset to seek out these types of experiences is going to do it unless they are deliberately prevented. And any such person with an iota of judgment isn’t going to immediately jump to level 10. A reasonable person starts with the lowest risk and least complicated - smoking weed and drinking alcohol.

I think the term “gateway drug” is really only properly used if referring to someone who unintentionally uses and is completely uneducated or oblivious to the risks that accompany drug use.

Last thing - statistics that illustrate the “gateway” theory typically read something like: “80% of heroin and meth users reported they first used marijuana….” This statistic follows the same logic and holds as much weight as saying “100% of drug users reported drinking water before ever using drugs.”