Did you know that marijuana is the most frequently used drug in the United States? According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, sixty-nine million Americans over the age of twelve have tried marijuana at least once. The average age for trying marijuana is fourteen years old.
             Marijuana SHOULD be legalized. Reasons for this would be the health considerations, reduce violence, and more money for the government to be used elsewhere in the world.
             People who support marijuana prohibition claim that marijuana is unhealthy and dangerous. They say we need to keep drugs illegal to protect our society from the addiction and disease that they cause. These arguments are not consistent with the fact that the two most deadly drugs in America are legal. Alcohol and tobacco are far more addictive and harmful than marijuana, but they are legally available. Marijuana only poses health risks to people who choose to use it. If we want to have drug policies that are logical and effective, we need to legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to the regulation of alcohol and tobacco.
             Marijuana also does not cause violence. Some people who support prohibition claim that marijuana itself causes violence. This is one of the original claims used to justify making marijuana illegal, but this claim is false. In fact, people who are high on marijuana tend to be relaxed, mellow, and too happy to want to fight. The truth is, alcohol DOES cause aggressiveness behavior, marijuana does not. In the Tahoe Tribune article about William Hunt and his 8-year-old son, who were both shot when they accidentally stumbled upon a marijuana garden that was protected by armed guards. If marijuana cultivation was legal, William and Matthew Hunt would not have been in danger.
             In addition, if marijuana were legal, the government would have more money to spend on the more important problems than chasing around people who like...