UNTIL recently it seemed that nothing would disturb the international consensus that the best way to deal with narcotic and psychotropic drugs is to ban them. Codified in a United Nations convention, this policy has proved impervious to decades of failure. Drug consumption has not, in most parts of the world, fallen. Prohibition inflicts appalling damage, through the spread of organised crime, the needless deaths of addicts exposed to adulterated drugs and the mass incarceration of young men.
Leaders | Illegal drugs
The great experiment
At last, drug prohibition is being challenged by fresh thinking
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “The great experiment”
More from Leaders
South Africa stands on the brink of salvation—or catastrophe
To prevent a coalition of chaos, Cyril Ramaphosa and the Democratic Alliance must do a deal
The disgrace of a former American president
But this prosecution of Donald Trump was wrongheaded and counter-productive
Japan and South Korea are getting friendlier. At last
As the world economy fragments, two export powerhouses see the virtue of chumminess