Marijuana is actually good for your physical health. Although this argument is mere syllables away from being in good haiku form, inhaling the burning fumes from a plant will rarely be good for your health. This simple fact is usually overlooked by arguments that marijuana is less toxic than tobacco. Hitting yourself in the stomach hurts less than hitting yourself in the face, but would you want to hit yourself anyway?

Marijuana eases pain. Marijuana may be beneficial to those suffering from chronic pain, but this demographic is scarce, and probably has access to medical marijuana already. The typical high school or college student that stands on street corners picketing this is probably just suffering from boredom.

The War on Drugs is a waste of government resources. This is possibly the best gateway argument. Marijuana does in fact land upwards of 800,000 Americans in jail each year, costing around 50 billion dollars (annually). The truth is that people are generally in jail less for the actual crimes that they commit and more so for their disrespect of the law. Those Americans are there for breaking the law; smoking marijuana was collateral. To argue for those 800,000 Americans (and your potential self) is to argue for decriminalization, not legalization.