What's the easiest way to copy a database, whether or not there is an existing copy with a given name?

If I load a database with CREATE DB, it replaces any existing database with the same name.  

I would like to do the same with COPY DB, but it raises an error if there is a database with the same name.  And DELETE DB raises an error if there isn't a database with that name.  So what's the right way to do this?

Jonathan