Decriminalization simply means you don't go to prison for being a drug user. The drug dealers can still go to prison. There's no evidence that more people will start smoking crack and shooting smack now that drugs have been decriminalized. We just won't waste money sending them to prison.
I agree 100 percent that sending people to prison for drug use has been and abject failure on multiple levels. The problem is legalization of all drugs without seriously addressing drug addiction, drug abuse and generally why so many people need to drug themselves just to get through the day is a recipe for disaster.
We must consider the fallout from this move. Child neglect and abuse is rampant among drug abusers. Theft, muggings, burglaries are the main sources of income for addicts, along with prostitution, especially concerning the underage sex trade. All of this will continue.
We must get really serious about poverty, the breakdown of the family structure, over prescribing of prescription drugs, especially to children and young adults, multiple avenues of recovery must be made available, not just pray it away 12 step programs which has some success but is largely dismissed immediately by addicts. Until we do these things the problem of drug addiction will continue to grow, legal or not.
This is another example of lazy government going from one extreme to another. Lock'em all up doesn't work, neither will just throwing in the towel and making everything legal. The solution is not easy or cheap and will require considerable thought, something which political types don't do well. Maybe if these lazy and corrupt fucks in government did something besides campaign all fucking day for the next election they might be able to work on real problems rather than just protecting their spot at the government trough.
