How to smack it down

THE war on drugs is at last subsiding. A growing gang of both rich and poor countries are choosing to tolerate or even legalise drugs that they once tried to suppress with force. And many of the calls for a ceasefire are coming from unexpected places. The main moves to allow people to use cannabis have been in America, which was long the world’s chief cheerleader for prohibition. This week Mexico’s supreme court opened the door to legalising marijuana. Even more surprising is conservative Ireland, a country that still outlaws abortion, which announced plans to permit some consumption of heroin.