Legalizing Marijuana or No?

In a CNN exclusive video interview, Jake Tapper interviews President Obama on his thoughts on whether or not marijuana should be legalized or not. Jake Tapper first brings out the issue of President Obama comparing marijuana to drinking in a previous interview with The New Yorkers. He states that President Obama said, smoking marijuana is a bad habit, but he did not think it was any worse for a person to drink. Jake Tapper argues that marijuana is classified as a schedule one narcotic and questioned President Obama why he thinks this drug should be legalized. Obama answers back that whether or not a drug is classified as schedule one narcotic is up to the congress and that when comparing drinking to marijuana he believes that smoking marijuana for casual use is subject to abuse, but if it is used for health reasons it is comparable to the habits of drinking.
In the first day of class we were asked to partner up and share issues that we agree and disagree on. My partner and I disagreed with each other about the use of marijuana and my opinions were the same as President Obama. I believe that if marijuana were to be legalized in all states, people would take that to abuse. Marijuana would be used more for personal and casual reasons rather than medical reasons for the sick. There are many crimes and deaths involving drinking because some people can not control their alcohol consumption so why would marijuana be any different? People will start to abuse the legalization of marijuana and we will soon have an unsafe environment. So, I want to end by asking what others think about legalizing marijuana? Should it be legalized in all states or should it remain only for medical needs?