Drugs policy report sparks coalition row

A Government report has challenged the way people should be dealt with over drugs abuse.

The report, which says tougher penalties like prison fail to deter users, has also left the coalition split over drugs laws.

ITV News' Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports.

The Coalition is split tonight, over a report challenging Britain's longstanding policy of tough punishments for drug abusers.

The Home Office paper found no evidence that harsh laws lower usage.

Proof, the Liberal Democrats say, that the war on drugs is failing.

ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports:

The Prime Minister has defended the government's track record on drugs saying that "drug use is falling" and that "the evidence is that what we are doing is working".

"I don't believe in decriminalising drugs," he said, adding that the Home Office report does not justify any one approach over another.

He was speaking at an 02 call centre in Runcorn, Cheshire.

• How do Britain's drug laws compare to other countries?

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will not change his stance on drug policy and that "legalisingf is not an option" as it is the "wrong message to send".

ITV News producer Vincent McAviney tweeted:

A Home Office report which concluded tough laws have no impact on drug use was "suppressed" by the Conservatives, Lib Dem minister Norman Baker claims.

Mr Baker said: "The reality is that this report has been sitting around for several months. I’ve been trying to get it out and I’m afraid that I believe that my coalition colleagues who commissioned the report jointly don’t like the independent conclusions it’s reached.

“It was suppressed, not by Theresa May, it was suppressed by the Conservatives and the reality is that it has got some inconvenient truths in it."

The crime prevention minister added continuing the current approach to drugs was no longer tenable.

He called for dissuasion commissions to be looked into, which would divert people arrested over drugs from the criminal system into the health service.

Many Tory MPs are in favour of drugs policy reform, the Commons has heard.

Poole MP Robert Syms said: "Contrary to press reports, there are many of us on the Conservative benches that believe in evidence-based reform to have a more effective policy in dealing with the scourge of drugs."

Zac Goldsmith, Tory MP for Richmond Park, added: "I understand that 20% of people who have taken heroin for the first time say they got it for the first time in jail.

"If we can't control it in jail, how on earth are we supposed to control it on our streets?"

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said the "war on drugs is not working".

His comments came after a Liberal Democrat report published today found drug laws had no impact on levels of substance misuse.

Speaking on LBC radio, he said it should be a "wake up call" to the other parties that the current system was failing.

Decriminalising drugs in Portugal cut addiction by 50%, the country's national drugs co-ordinator said.

Joao Goulao told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We had around 100,000 people hooked on heroin, which is 1% of our population, and now we estimate that we have half of that."

There is "no chance" drugs will be legalised following a report which states tougher laws have no effect on substance misuse, the government say.

A Liberal Democrat report claims it is "pointless" punishing drug users and more time should be spent on cracking down on criminal gangs who traffic drugs than addicts

But in a statement Number 10 said: "This report provides no support whatsoever for the Lib Dem's policy of decriminalisation. In fact, it clearly states that it would be inappropriate to draw those kind of conclusions.

"The Lib Dem policy would see drug dealers getting off scot-free and send an incredibly dangerous message to young people about the risks of taking drugs

"As the report makes very clear, the Government's approach already provides a good balance between enforcement and treatment, drug use is plummeting as a result and there is simply no chance that we will entertain such a reckless change of course ."