The war on drugs is in dire need of peace talks; and peace often makes for strange bedfellows. Join us as we look from the hard end of the illegal drugs trade, through the opioid crisis currently gripping the United States, and on towards former strongholds of sobriety where the latest cash crop – cannabis – is winning hearts and minds and lungs as the so-called ‘Green Rush’ takes hold.

The 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is the only convention in the history of the United Nations to use the word ‘evil’. In the intervening 60 years, drug production has increased exponentially across the globe. The tectonic plates underneath our attitudes to drugs – in their production and consumption, and their effects on individuals and societies – are moving. Does the international order still have the firepower to keep fighting this War on Drugs, or is it time for change? Could we cope?

Ed Vulliamy, Peter Hitchens and Pete Maguire will be be discussing if legalisation could be – or should be – the answer.