The World's Least Dangerous Places

In a misguided attempt to save us from ourselves, governments around the globe have made it illegal to consume numerous substances. This gave Taras Grescoe a brilliant idea: travel around the world, sampling as many of the forbidden fruits as possible. He then wrote a book about it: The Devil's Picnic: A Tour of Everything the Governments of the World Don't Want You to Try. This book is now at the top of my reading list. Here's an article he wrote for The Independent, where Grescoe reminds of why prohibition is always destined for failure:

Everywhere I went I saw confirmation of a lesson humanity should have learnt in 17th-century Constantinople (where the sultans tried, and failed, to ban coffee)... ban something, and it only becomes stronger, costlier and more coveted than ever before.

Hat tip: Nikki Sullivan