Traffic deaths are down, and those who have looked at this issue think it aligns with a move from alcohol to marijuana among those who choose to use an inebriating product.
Portugal's ten year experiment decriminalizing ALL DRUGS (i.e. possession of heroin is a fine, not a criminal offense) has resulted in fewer young people using hard drugs. Portugal has moved this things out of an underground economy, as much as possible, and has bureaus that allow those who are addicts to obtain clean drugs, not street altered drugs.
They also provide clean needles to decrease the incidence of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis among drug addicts. The result of Portugal's experiment is that they have saved HUGE sums by treating drug abuse as a medical problem, not a criminal one.
A study from a few years ago found that young people in The Netherlands, per capita, are less likely to use marijuana than American teens where it is illegal. In The Netherlands cannabis law is simply ignored rather than enforced (which led to the coffee shops for cannabis that have existed for more than a decade, as well).
You can find links for these and other studies in the drug policy forum.
I don't have the power to predict the future but I have the ability to look at the past and see what works and what doesn't.
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