I think in the West governments have given up on on persecuting cannabis users also for recreation use. This persecution of users did nothing to eliminate the users and labeled many ordinary citizens as criminals.
Today more and more countries realize that this is pointless and and that the goverment should not stick their noses into people private lives.
Personally i think this region can use some Cannabis to relax instead of getting involved in stupid wars. I dont think it is a coincidence that in the 60th , the peace movement in the US came along with the use of cannabis . Seems Cannabis makes people want to make love and not war.
Map of countries in US where cannabis is legal :