Legalizing Marijuana

After reading my fellow classmates blog, Marijuana should be legal across the United States, I had this in response:
I agree that marijuana should be legalized in the United States for several reasons, many of which you mentioned. To add to your argument, if marijuana was legalized, the government could put a tax on it like they have on cigarettes. This would be taking advantage of a large, untaxed (because its sold on the black market) potential source of income for the federal government. Many people feel that if you legalize marijuana, usage of other illegal drugs will rise. I feel that this is not the case. Buying marijuana puts people into the places and situations where the other dangerous and addicting drugs are. When they go to buy marijuana, they are pressured and enticed into experimenting with other drugs. If marijuana were to be legalized, people would be able to go to their pharmacy to but it, and will not be around, or pressured into using the other drugs.
Although I feel that marijuana should be legalized, it should have restraints on it similar to alcohol. There should be an age limit on it of either 18 or 21 to deter the use of it by adolescents. Also, people should not be allowed to drive under the influence because marijuana can slows peoples reaction, distort their perception, and can render their judgment. Since alcohol consumption is legal and produces worse consequences then marijuana, under the same type of alcohol laws, marijuana should be legalized.