Hello from the Netherlands!, where we moved six years ago.

They have been doing much like what you suggest for decades, and the prison population has steadily fallen.

This is the first country I have lived in that is slightly underpoliced, and it's fscking fantastic. Yes, people do sometimes get away with stuff, but overall, not feeling any fear when I see a police officer more than makes up for it. Crime is very low: being an addict is not criminalized here, for example, so you get safe places to shoot up, and high-quality medical treatment with no risk of arrest.

I had an American argue to me that cannabis had to remain illegal because of all the jobs created by people in jail for pot. As I said, "That argument is only good if you don't care about justice."