The front door theory has two main arguments. The first is that it has a "cross-sensitization" effect, whereby if you try a mind-altering substance, using another drug will cause a greater effect. The second topic is a social issue; using marijuana in a crowd will cause others to use it too. Additionally, dealers often offer free samples of other drugs to customers (W, T). The front door theory holds that most extreme addicts who take hard drugs often start with a simple drug. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly two-thirds of all people who use illicit drugs started with marijuana use. While this may be true, making this claim count could be tricky since marijuana is such a common drug that nearly 40% of Americans have tried it. From 2007 to 2012, the number of marijuana users in America steadily increased from 172 million to 227 million per year. If marijuana were a gateway drug, the number of illicit drug users should also have increased. However, over the same period, use of other drugs did not increase, and instead fell from 25 to 20 million per year for cocaine users and from 6 million to 5 million for methamphetamine users. Legalizing marijuana is also believed to reduce the crime rate in America, as nearly 1/6 of the population in prisons would not have been incarcerated if marijuana had been a legal substance. Tons of resources and government funding money for prisons would have been put to better use. The New York Times editorial team states that, according to the FBI, 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession were compared to only 256,000 arrests for cocaine, heroin and other much more dangerous drugs (Repeal Prohibition, Again). Buying marijuana legally,