McGrath, I understood the point perfectly well, however I continue to dispute your assertion that it is the illegality of cannabis that makes it the 'gateway' drug (and thanks for the admission that it is indeed a 'gateway' drug, what a reality-leap that represents! Your fellow Yea-Sayers all, for some odd reason, fail to recognise that fact). Coffee (caffeine) is not commonly, if ever, used to achieve intoxication, it's used almost exclusively for other purposes - usually to do with maintaining alertness levels during strenuous and continuous mental exercise or simply because the consumer enjoys the taste. Conversely, the only purpose for the consumption of cannabis is to achieve intoxication. Hence my horse/camel analogy. They are both drugs, but there the similarity ends.

The people who trade in drugs are, as I've already pointed out, extremely resourceful, intelligent and organised, and they simply will not conveniently go away. They will find a way to defeat any attempt to subvert their purpose - trust me, I've met some of these people and they do not give up. I assure you they will continue to use 'harmless' cannabis as the sprat to catch the mackerel. Whatever it costs the punter to buy it legally over the counter, they will undercut it even to the point of giving it away - don't forget we're talking about hooking in adolescents here, they are the prime target because they are gullible and malleable, and they represent a long term constantly-developing market. A susceptible fourteen-year old wouldn't give tuppence for a cup of coffee because it doesn't give him a hit, but put a spliff in his mouth and everything changes when the room spins - and that's how they get hooked in to drug culture, nothing to do with illegality, everything to do with the effect of the drug. They don't care whether its legal or not, they just want the intoxicating effect, and having little or no income they'll follow the nice man who'll let them have it for nothing, or rather he'll 'lend' it to them for a while then call the debt in big-style.

The assumption that legalising cannabis will somehow make dealers throw in the towel is both naive and dangerous - it won't, and the kids will be hooked in just the same. Others here, like Bone-Head Bobert, might think it's a bit of Yee-Ha Slap-Ma-Thigh Down-Home Mountain-Man Fun. They've got a lot to learn - they should meet some of the people I've had the unpleasant experience of rubbing shoulders with, they'd soon change their minds.