Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.

Lawmakers who voted for decriminalization, some of whom have expressed surprise over the details of the bill, said it would for the first time empower local police to make drug arrests and allow law enforcement in general to focus on intercepting large drug shipments and major traffickers. The bill also would stiffen penalties for selling drugs near schools and authorize state and local police to detain users to check whether amounts were over the legal limit.

This should be nice and controversial. Do we expect them to go through with it?

Said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy:

Many countries, including the U.S. and Mexico, see the drug problem as a trafficking problem. But the real problem isn't trafficking, it's drug use. The costs of drug addiction are staggering.

The costs of the War on Drugs are staggering, Mr. Riley.

So, what will this do for the staggering amount of violence that Mexico sees due to drug smuggling? Chris at Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of... argues that it will get worse, because the decriminalization only takes attention off of the end users, not the suppliers - and that's where the violence is. Don at Cafe Hayek seems to think otherwise. I often agree with his take on things, but doesn't flesh out the argument other than to say in the comments section:

The Mexican government, for example, has already agreed to be less violent towards people with only small amounts of drugs.

Fair enough. But overall? I expect and hope that this will help to decrease the violence, but it strikes me as more than a little wishful, especially given which drugs have been legalized. Have you ever seen a narco-tourist on PCP? I know where you may soon be able to find one.