Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
decriminalize (v.)
is now Standard, although it is not much more than twenty years old. By no means every Standard user likes it, partly because it is new, having been made up to express the view that possession or use of drugs such as marijuana ought not to be a crime, and partly because it avails itself of the much-criticized -ize suffix. Decriminalize may seem clumsy, but because it has met a specific need in our discussion of a pressing social problem, it will no doubt continue to serve, because to make no longer a crime seems even clumsier.
