The question is...
 

Hi,

I've been wondering about the punctuation set up for this phrase.

I've seen things like "The question is, should marijuana be legalized?" and "The question is; should marijuana be legalized?" but I don't like the look of those.

Could someone explain to me which is the correct way to write this and why?

Cheers

Re: The question is...
 

The comma is fine (because they are two separate clauses), and possibly a colon (because the second part is an explanation of the first) but not a semi colon.