Decriminalization /= Legalization, and the latter is what would seriously force change. I'm not even sure if this is a good thing, because it encourages the ridiculous halfway house status marijuana is growing into. Either make it legal or illegal (and by that, I mean make it legal). Making it kind of sort of illegal but not really is the worst of both worlds, as it doesn't eliminate the criminal subculture that benefits off of marijuana trade and it doesn't provide the tax bonanza that sin taxes involved with legalization would. My ideal solution would be for marijuana to join alcohol in "you can buy it at 7-11 or CVS with an appropriate over 21 ID" status, which would utterly devastate drug dealers who make a good share of their money off of pot and decouple marijuana from the criminal element completely.
This. Decriminalization keeps the supply in the hands of criminals and does nothing to protect users. If legalized it could be taxed, which would far offset any negative health effects. (Although personally, I think marijuana should be legal from 18 and same for alcohol)
