Yes! I wish this point was made more loudly by pot advocates to the general public! Legalization scares people, but decriminalization appeals to most voters' common sense.
Still, decrim at the Federal level feels like a bit of a far reach. Gotta keep pushing it state by state or even city by city in the backwards-ass states.
I was typing the same point when I read yours. Even though both words have "lize" in them, the truth is decriminalization almost always occurs before legalization of anything.