Uruguay is set to be the first country to make cannabis lawful

LAST week Uruguay's lower house approved a bill that legalises the production, sale and consumption of pot. It took over a year to hash out the new rules, which are expected to pass through the Senate soon. They will let registered users grow up to six plants at home, buy from licensed shops or join a cannabis club for joint production. The latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime suggest that in 2011 8.3% of Uruguayans had smoked pot in the past year, up nearly three percentage points from 2006. Worldwide use has seen a slight uptick too. About 180m people aged between 15 and 64 smoked weed in the past 12 months, compared with around 160m a few years ago. The drug is most popular in New Zealand and Italy. In America, which has the fourth-highest prevalence of stoners, Colorado and Washington voted for legalisation last year. Many states already permit use for health reasons, though there are signs of misuse. A recent study found that the majority of people registered for access to medical marijuana were young, male and experienced “chronic pain”—an ailment that is hard to detect or deny.