Our world, and all of us, are interconnected. And this is very true in the case of substance abuse. The interests of the producers and the consumers are intertwined.

I had been planning to write about Portugal’s approach to dealing with drug users. Then after events in Afghanistan, I started to wonder if, given the Taliban role in opium cultivation, decriminalizing the use of heroin and meth in western societies might reduce their sources of income. Then I discovered that this is not a new idea. Some well-informed and influential people have suggested it over the past two decades.