gateway drug
noun
: a drug (such as alcohol or marijuana) whose use is thought to lead to the use of and dependence on a harder drug (such as cocaine or heroin)
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The tension over how to operate a legal market for a substance once reviled as a gateway drug to heroin is not new. 
Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022 If travel is a gateway drug, photography is the next hardest substance. Tanner Bowden, Outside Online, 18 Aug. 2022 By the 1990s, Dungeons & Dragons had become wrapped up in the Satanic Panic — railed against by the religious right and seen to be a gateway drug of sorts into occultism. Elisabeth Garber-paul, Rolling Stone, 15 July 2022 Was Nixon’s Brookings outburst a gateway drug to ordering a break-in on purely political grounds? Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 17 June 2022 The mixed reality glasses will be the gateway drug to the future. Chris Smith, BGR, 7 June 2022 For the many moviegoers who aren’t, especially in the West, this three-hour extravaganza of sound and fury will serve as a gateway drug to a whole subset of world-cinema pop narcotics. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 June 2022 Her love of metal led her to congregate among the other goth, metal and punk kids in her high school — a gateway drug to jersey mall culture and hot topic aesthetics. Niko Stratis, SPIN, 23 May 2022 In short, the Spider was a gateway drug to Italian car ownership: exciting, affordable, and easy-going. Ronan Glon, Car and Driver, 10 May 2022 See More
Karina Elwood, Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2022 If travel is a gateway drug, photography is the next hardest substance. Tanner Bowden, Outside Online, 18 Aug. 2022 By the 1990s, Dungeons & Dragons had become wrapped up in the Satanic Panic — railed against by the religious right and seen to be a gateway drug of sorts into occultism. Elisabeth Garber-paul, Rolling Stone, 15 July 2022 Was Nixon’s Brookings outburst a gateway drug to ordering a break-in on purely political grounds? Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 17 June 2022 The mixed reality glasses will be the gateway drug to the future. Chris Smith, BGR, 7 June 2022 For the many moviegoers who aren’t, especially in the West, this three-hour extravaganza of sound and fury will serve as a gateway drug to a whole subset of world-cinema pop narcotics. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 June 2022 Her love of metal led her to congregate among the other goth, metal and punk kids in her high school — a gateway drug to jersey mall culture and hot topic aesthetics. Niko Stratis, SPIN, 23 May 2022 In short, the Spider was a gateway drug to Italian car ownership: exciting, affordable, and easy-going. Ronan Glon, Car and Driver, 10 May 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1981, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
gateway drug
noun
gate·way drug ˈgāt-ˌwā- 
: a drug (such as alcohol or marijuana) whose use is thought to lead to the use of and dependence on more dangerous, addicting substances (such as cocaine or heroin)
To end at the beginning, nicotine … is now considered a "gateway drug," as it commonly precedes and is comorbid with other substance use. Donald A. Henderson, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Donald A. Henderson, The Journal of the American Medical Association