Introduction Recently, there has been a debate on legalization of marijuana among the adult population in many states. In particular, the states of Oregon and Colorado have grappled with the issue for the last few months. Before last year’s vote on the issue, the states had made illegal the usage of marijuana for recreational purposes. That notwithstanding, the same question has been pertinent in other states. While the proponents argue that legalization of marijuana is long overdue, opponents argue that legalizing pot could undermine the gains made in the fight against hard drugs especially among young people. This argumentative essay seeks to support legalization of marijuana among the adult population. The rationale is that marijuana usage has been rampant despite its illegal status in many states. Thus, insignificant achievement has been made to reduce the uptake of the drug despite its illegality. Legalize Marijuana At the outset, it is important to highlight that prohibition of marijuana has yielded far more negative results than good. Barbour asserts that the use and accessibility of marijuana have remained unaffected over the last few decades despite the authorities directing huge amount of resources towards its prevention (56). Specifically, it is estimated that the state of Colorado spends around $12 million every year in an attempt to combat the ever-rising use of marijuana in the population (Green 12). Such amount of financial resources could be directed towards more serious criminal activities and crimes. Without a doubt, the efforts by the government to criminalize and prevent usage of marijuana have dramatically failed overtime. By legalizing marijuana therefore, Barbour says, “…the government spending on prevention and war against marijuana will reduce significantly and save huge amounts of taxpayers’ dollars…” (6). In addition, the government stands to gain from tax revenues from the drug when it gains legal status. The reason is that the government will enact tax legislations on the drug and ensure that all sellers and the buyers pay a premium tax leading to increased tax revenues for the government. Second, Reinarman, Cohen and Kaal assert that marijuana has far less negative effects on health of the user when compared to other drugs such as tobacco and alcohol (836). Moreover, pot smoking has shown to have minimal effects on the surrounding community. That notwithstanding, tobacco and alcoholic drinks are higher in toxicity than marijuana. They lead to increased chances of addiction and are harmful to the body of the users and those around them but they remain to be legal (Reinarman et al. 59). In a book that compares marijuana and other legal drugs, Green says, “… tobacco is forty folds harmful to the health of an individual than marijuana…” (123). She says that a user of alcohol is more likely to become violent than pot smokers. This is notwithstanding the addictive effect of tobacco and alcohol that can highly overcome the addiction caused by marijuana. To that end, it is important to regulate and decriminalize usage of marijuana, as is the case with other ‘common’ drugs. Further, marijuana does not lead to cancer, as many opponents would like to show. In fact, victims of cancer h