Dissent about prohibition: In narco veritas RETIRED policemen, judges and presidents who support radical drug-law reform still greatly outnumber those who pipe up while still in the job. But calls for a rethink are increasingly coming from incumbents too. Last year Bolivia's left-wing government briefly withdrew from the UN's Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1961 treaty underpinning prohibition. It returned after negotiating an opt-out for coca, a traditional mild stimulant (unlike cocaine, no more harmful than caffeine) protected by the country's constitution. More hawkish leaders are also thinking twice. Felipe Calderón, Mexico's conservative president, said in August: "if you [America] are determined and resigned to consume drugs, then seek market alternatives...or establish clear points of access other than the border with Mexico. This position can no longer go on. Soon after, Juan Manuel Santos, the centre-right president of Colombia, said he would welcome legalisation if it cut criminals" profits. European leaders so far lack these cojones. Though the Netherlands tolerates cannabis sales to locals in designated coffee shops and Portugal has decriminalised the consumption of all drugs, neither has legalised supply, meaning that consumers" cash still goes to the mobs who behead, boil and skin in Latin America. Last year George Papandreou, then prime minister of Greece, became the only sitting European leader to advocate legalising cannabis. Given the weight of opinion in rich countries such as America, caution is understandable. "If someone wants to destroy their own neurones, that can be their own decision," says Mauricio López Bonilla, interior minister of Guatemala, a stepping stone between Andean coca fields and American nostrils. But legalisation "is not politically backable...it would have a political and economic cost for us." This month Peru replaced its drugs chief, Ricardo Soberón, who had halted coca-bush spraying (funded by America) to assess its effectiveness. The new woman toes the line. Sometimes, radical suggestions have preceded a career at the top. As a lowly parliamentarian, David Cameron was part of a committee that recommended that the government begin a discussion within the UN on "the possibility of legalisation and regulation" of drugs. As prime minister, he keeps quiet. In opposition his deputy, Nick Clegg, declared: "the so-called war on drugs is failing." Yet on a visit to Mexico last year he had only praise for the "courageous" battle, which has produced a murder rate over 15 times Britain's. Doubtless he will be forthright in his memoirs.