Weed yes, the rest no. Example, the rate of folks driving under the influence of weed. It is bad enough to have all the DUI/DWI, I live in the U.S., from alcohol and now the state that I live in has made weed legal.
Now I can take a stand against making more legal for the driving aspect alone. I was in a nasty car crash where the other driver blew through the stop sign without even slowing down. Now since April 2015, I live every second with hellish chronic pain. I would never wish what I have to endure in anyone ever.
The state that I live in has made weed legal and I am ok with it, however now law enforcement has seen more impaired drivers now, so it is both alcohol and/or weed.
I do not think that weed leads to harder drugs, nope, it is the same as having a bottle of beer as far as I am concerned, but there will be more deaths and folks like me who will live out their lives messed up.
AS far as harder drugs, I have never even tried weed much less other street drugs. Yes, I am on Hydromorphone for the chronic pain, but I walk a tight rope with my pain doctor so that I can keep getting it to make life at least bearable.
Look at the state in the U.S. of Oregon and in particular Portland. Oregon has decriminalized hard drugs, where if one gets caught it is a $100 dollar fine. Parts of Portland are so bad now that they are considering going back to the original laws, much harsher of course.
It is human nature in so far as when there is no governing done, like on hard drugs, then some are going to not only damage themselves but others business and have a city go into decline.
I travel for work a lot and I look at downtown San Francsico, as it used to be so vibrant with lots of great food and shopping but now, the main downtown mall is just a shell of its former self, so sad.
There are never any easy answers to anything and as long as there are humans there will be vices good or not so good to ply human nature with, it is where is the balance so that others do not feel the pain of someone else's vice(s).
Now, PLEASE do NOT give me crap and or to a few on here be juvenile towards me, as we ALL have the right of our own thoughts and /or opinions and I respect everyone's rights on here and I hope that I am afforded the same rights.
Walter