Leading physician backs reform calls for legalised use of drugs

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, whose four-year presidency of the influential doctors' body ended last month, said he agreed that the Government should look again at legislation.

His controversial comments have reignited the debate over drugs prohibition, only a month after similar calls for law reform were criticised by some politicians and campaigners.

Sir Ian said: "There's a lot of evidence that the total prohibition of drugs, making them totally illicit and unavailable, has not been successful in reducing not only the health burden but also the impact on crime.

"I'm trying to take a fresh look, as many people have done. There is a strong case for trying a different approach.

"I'm not saying we should make heroin available to everyone, but we should be treating it as a health issue rather than criminalising people."

Critics have claimed decriminalising illicit substances could lead drug users to wrongly believe they were safe to take.

Sir Ian said this was "a risk and a concern that has to be taken seriously", but added: "I don't think anybody thinks heroin is not harmful, far from it."

He said the evidence showed that decriminalising heroin or other drugs "doesn't increase the number of drug users" and added that the aim was one of "helping people with addiction problems, rather than putting them in prison".

He added: "I see a lot of patients with the complications of opiate addiction from dirty needles, or from using drugs that are contaminated – and not from the use of heroin itself."

Adding that decriminalisation might also bring economic benefits, Sir Ian said: "In times of financial hardship, the closer to the drug user you invest your money the better value you get.

"It's more cost effective to try to treat people with drug problems than to close down poppy fields in disparate countries."

He told colleagues he backed calls from one of Britain's most senior lawyers, Nicholas Green QC, for reforming the law.

Last month, Mr Green, chairman of the UK Bar Council, said it would be "rational" to decriminalise personal drug use in order to free up police time, reduce crime and improve public health.

Today the head of external affairs at the campaign group Transform which has called for an end to the war on drugs, Danny Kushlick, said: "Physicians are duty bound to speak out if the outcomes show that prohibition causes more harm than it reduces.

"Sir Ian is justly fulfilling his role by calling for consideration of the evidence for legal control and regulation."

An article by Transform's head of research, Stephen Rolles, was endorsed by British Medical Journal editor Fiona Godlee, who said: "He says, and I agree, that we must regulate drug use, not criminalise it."

The regulated sale of some drugs has also been proposed by Prof David Nutt, who was sacked as the Labour government's top drugs adviser after saying Ecstasy was less harmful than alcohol.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Drugs such as heroin, cocaine and cannabis are extremely harmful and can cause misery to communities across the country.

"The Government does not believe that decriminalisation is the right approach."

The spokesman added: "Our priorities are clear: we want to reduce drug use, crack down on drug-related crime and disorder, and help addicts come off drugs for good."