麻豆社

Owen Bennett Jones introduces personal insights, experiences and analysis from 麻豆社 correspondents worldwide. In this edition, two stories from the Americas on debates over deeply-held social values. Will Grant reports from Mexico on an apparent U-turn by the country's elite over drug policy. Until recently, even suggesting that decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs might work was politically taboo - and would be guaranteed to bring down the wrath of the USA. But in the last few months many people have been publicly exploring the idea of decriminalising cannabis, at least, and maybe other drugs too - and one of them is former President and renowned drug warrior Vicente Fox. In Kingston, Jamaica, Nick Davis has been mulling over what "family values" really mean on this island - where, despite its being saturated in strongly Christian rhetoric, more than half of all relationships aren't monogamous and illegitimate births bear little stigma. Society here claims it's deeply concerned about promiscuity, the gender gap and "kids having kids". Yet abortion is still strictly forbidden by a law dating back to the 1860s. How far can reform go?