Making marijuana available for medical purposes is basically decriminalization. I drew the distinction as I've encountered people who think that states are legalizing it which is an entirely different thing.

Practically speaking decriminalization is making pot available to a much wider audience at a lower cost as (at least in Denver) there's no practical limit to how much people can buy. One person with a medical marijuana card can (and does) supply a fair number of people without.

* Edit: Fixed a typo.