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Legalise highs

A new front has opened in the war on drugs as Mephedrone, a substance that can legally be sold as plant food but which creates euphoria and excitement when snorted, hit the headlines. The drug, also dubbed "meow meow" or "drone", had become the fourth most popular street drug in Britain by 2009, but has recently been linked with several deaths, and carries side effects that can include nose bleeds, joint pains, paranoia, heart palpitations, insomnia and memory problems.

Mephedrone is now going to be criminalised. But perhaps we should be admitting that we have already lost the war on drugs, and look for another solution. Would safe, legal highs make the illegal drugs trade, with its networks of organised crime feeding miserable, impoverished addicts, a thing of the past?