Uruguay has become the first country to legalise the cultivation, distribution and consumption of cannabis. The government-sponsored legislation will come into force in April. From then citizens who are over 18 will be able to register as cannabis users, buy up to 40g per month of the drug from licensed pharmacies, snd be allowed to grow six plants a year in their homes. Supporters say it’s a logical response to the failure of the “war on drugs”; its many critics, however, believe that it’s a dangerous social experiment that risks increasing the market for a product that harms human health. According to opinion polls, 58% of Uruguayans oppose legalisation. (The Week 20 Dec).

Epicurus would, were he alive, point out that cannabis is not a drug designed in a laboratory by a pharmaceutical company, but a naturally occurring herbal plant, like parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. It happens to have some hallucinatory properties. Experience has shown that is is truly impossible to outlaw it. A much better answer is to control its sale. Yes, used stupidly it can harm your health, but so can Big Macs and Coca Cola. As for putting people in jail, even as pushers, this has been an expensive disaster. Full marks to Uruguay. Let’s hope, in 2014, that the jails are finally emptied of people
involved in the cannabis trade.