If marijuana were legal in UK, the extra tax take could amount to £1bn a year, says Misha Glenny

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Misha Glenny

The terms may no longer be politically correct but western governments continue to wage both a war on terror and a war on drugs. They now need to recognise what is staring them in the face : that the prosecution of the latter makes it impossible to win the former.

From Afghanistan to the Maghreb, from Mexico to London, terrorists and violent gangs depend upon the revenues they garner from the illegal drugs trade. The billions spent by America and its allies on war in Afghanistan since 2001 have not destroyed the Taliban. On the contrary, funds from heroin sales have made the group stronger than ever.​

The prohibition of narcotics makes ever less sense. The primary purpose of the policy has been a near total failure since it was first introduced in the 1920s. No government with the...

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