> For dealers this would mean almost nothing when the punishment for dealing already lead people to do things like get in shootouts with police.

I think you're getting at something valid, but it isn't quite what you think.

The punishment for dealing drugs is, as I understand it, mostly applied to major distributors. In this sense, selling drugs wasn't a crime before anyway.

If you're too low-level for prosecution to be much of a concern, it doesn't take much to guide you away from fundamentally similar crimes where prosecution is a real concern.