Which takes me back to the question posed at the beginning of this article, which needs to be answered before we can reach any conclusions about the way forward for drugs laws. Most crimes exist because the activities harm other people, like murder, rape or theft. But when a law proscribes a substance that directly harms only the user, then its sole purpose must be to register society’s disapproval of its impact on them. Otherwise, how could it make any sense for one plant – tobacco – to be legal, while another – cannabis – is not? A free country should never regard self-harm as sufficient justification for prohibition. If it were, then the sale and possession of tobacco would be banned.