About 90% of the people i know who smoke pot, also don't drink. It's not a small minority of the population either, it's just a chunk of society that can't be very open about the things they enjoy. It's pretty natural for that chunk to fly under the radar because they don't draw a lot of attention to themselves. They're people you would otherwise be like "oh" if they told you they smoke pot.
Your friend or any other example you throw out there, still has no relevance imo that pot (the most easily attainable, most socially acceptable "drug" out there) is a gateway. It just so happens that people, unless totally indoctrinated, will do the things they want to do regardless of law. I know people who have gone their whole life without ever trying sushi. They don't have anything against people who do eat sushi either. Just saying it only makes sense for people willing to do a lot, will start out with what's easy to get. In my experience there's just way more people who smoke pot, and only smoke pot.
Most of those people were not only unwelcoming to anything else, if anything else was ever brought into the house of a pothead, that person would never be welcomed back. Most potheads I know if not all, get entirely offended when pot is lumped in with "drugs", because they have totally separated themselves from that culture. I think the biggest difference is you don't "need" pot to "feel well", like you most likely would with the same amount of use with anything else. If I needed to quit my job and get another one, and stop smoking weed for 3 months to pass a piss test it would be no problem as it hasn't my entire adult life. Or the 5 years I stopped smoking pot when I was living with my brother, out of respect for him preferring it not be smoked around him.
I grew up in San Diego, I doubt there's a lack of availability there and anywhere else. Probably just that people come together with other like-minded people naturally. So, where your position and opinion come from are based on the 'circle' of people you have experience with and so do mine. They're just totally different.
