Stuart says:

Interesting. Personally I support neither drugs or alcohol and would like to limit the consumption as much as possible but at the same time clearly criminalising ordinary people for possession is completely the wrong approach. There’s some more stats on cannabis consumption here: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lif_can_use-lifestyle-cannabis-use

Percentage of people who have taken cannabis

New Zealand: 22.2%
Australia: 17.9%
USA: 12.3%
UK: 9%
Ireland: 8%
Spain: 7.6%
Canada: 7.4%
Netherlands: 5.2%
France: 4.7%
Germany: 4.1%
Norway: 3.8%
Portugal: 3.7%
Finland: 2.5%
Sweden: 1%

The most liberal countries (the Netherlands and Portugal) are indeed well below countries like the UK and US despite all the tabloid propaganda about how decriminalisation will encourage drug taking and lead to even more illegal drugs flooding into the country. Yet at the same time Sweden (which takes a very strict approach towards all types of drugs) does seem to have been very successful at keeping drug consumption levels the lowest in the western world, perhaps also an effect of having a more egalitarian society and better developed welfare state.