The 53 percent vote for legalization of marijuana was a vote for decriminalization. No more sending our young folk to jail, ruining careers before they get started with criminal records, spending money on prisons not education. It was not a vote to build a vibrant marijuana industry. The model we should be following is a tighter version of cigarette control, not alcohol.

The early 20th century drive that brought us alcohol prohibition was fueled by moral sentiments. The health case was there but not nearly as well documented as today. As the insanity of prohibition became more obvious, the public's growing disdain was so strong that alcohol entered the market as if it had been a condemned form of candy.

The death rate from alcohol is perhaps not as obvious as the murderous effects of cigarette smoking. The cigarette death rate allowed a movement against the preexisting, normal commercialization to gain footing notwithstanding powerful resistance funded by the enormous profits and employment base of the tobacco industry. With marijuana, no giant industry is in place with that kind of financial and political power to resist sensible regulation.

Commercial advertising can be a baleful industry. Like corporate life in general, it is short on moral limits. Advertising is about growing profits through enhanced sales. An example: Apparently we have to explain to our children and grandchildren at an early age what "erectile dysfunction" is, as the advertising industry works on TV to enhance aphrodisiac sales. Tough luck for Alaska's reindeer horn exports.

Mind-altering drugs, available by prescription only, kill far more people every year than all illegal drugs combined. Their consumption is encouraged by ads directed at the general public: "Ask your doctor…" even though any information on the nature of a prescription is strictly the doctor's business and should come from her to you. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that advertisers list damaging side effects. But they are buzzed through in the ad like source explanations in political ads.

Big advertising has been a co-conspirator in America's obesity epidemic with its sales of salt, sugar and now caffeine-saturated "soft" drinks, to be consumed by the underaged until they can drink whiskey and beer. But that's another story.

The world would be better off if alcohol had never been discovered. When prohibition was repealed, it would have been better to have legalized it with controls on marketing. As that child figuring out what erectile dysfunction is turns to alcohol advertising, he finds out that the very coolest people consume alcohol at terrific parties and that it is a great way to be beautiful and meet beauties.

Decriminalization of marijuana does not mean we follow the liquor road. Like cigarettes, marijuana should have continued availability to avoid criminalization with appropriate classification, but should be sold only with applicable warnings and no sales pitch.

Most of you do not want your children to be exposed to ubiquitous TV ads that tell them that smoking marijuana is as American as apple pie and that they should try higher octane varieties for a sweeter sense of satisfaction. As the Legislature parses the issues, you don't want to see a rubbing of hands at the prospects of growing a great industry so that state revenue will be enhanced. We are permitting marijuana, not encouraging its use. A reasonable tax regime should be a part of the system, but not so high that the illegal industry retains a footing through the price differential.

Marijuana is not good for you. There is no nicotine in it, but smoke in your lungs is not healthy. Early Colorado data show that about 25 percent of users are those who use marijuana almost every day. The heavy user functions below par. No, it's not addictive like heroin or meth, but a psychological addiction can become compulsive too. Many a young person out there has been badly, sometimes irretrievably damaged.

So let's not let the advertising industry take over even if, wherever we go with marijuana, the decriminalization of possession, use and sale is still a good result.

Correction: The version of this commentary first published incorrectly stated the percentage of votes to approve the ballot measure to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. The measure passed with 53 percent of the vote, not 52. It has been corrected above.

John Havelock is a former Alaska attorney general and was a supporter of Ballot Measure 2, the initiative by which Alaskans voted to legalize marijuana in 2014.