Gee, maybe, just maybe, when criminals hear that the penalties for breaking the law are going to be less severe, they committ more crimes. Or for economic or social reasons not anticipated by lawmakers, there are simply more law violators regardless of the potential sanctions. Preliminary numbers that I have seen indicate that in Portland, there are twice as many people being arrested for methamphetamine as there were two years ago. From what I can tell, this is largely due to the fact that Mexican cartels are flooding this market with methamphetamine (prices are half what they were two years ago). Unintended consequences and unforeseen circumstances can sabotage the best laid plans of mice and men...

I doubt the tweakers dealing next door to me have any idea what the penalties for their activities are or that they may have changed...