The drugs laws are no longer fit for purpose and should be replaced with legislation outlining the harm caused by different substances, including alcohol and tobacco, a report published yesterday suggests.

The two-year study by the Royal Society of Arts commission on drugs says that some illicit substances could be harmless, while drinking and smoking can cause as many problems as illegal drug use.

Current drug laws have been “driven by moral panic”, it adds, which demonises users and criminalises those who are not otherwise criminals.

The key proposal in the report is for the current classification of drug into classes A, B and C to be replaced by an index of harms caused by drugs, including alcohol and tobacco.

“The evidence suggests that a majority of people who use drugs are able to use them without harming themselves or others,” the commission says. “The harmless use of illegal drugs is thus possible, indeed common.”

It says that education about drugs is “inconsistent, irrele-vant, disorganised” and that its main focus should shift from secondary to primary schools. It also wants responsibility for drugs policy to be moved from the Home Office to the Department for Communities.

Professor Anthony King, who chaired the commission, said: “I think there is a real problem about politicians taking sensible decisions in a field as particularly hazardous as this. That being said, there is a need to inject into the debate a degree of calm rationality — less foaming at the mouth and more thinking.” The great majority of drug users did not harm themselves or others.

“Current policy is broke and needs to be fixed,” Professor King said.

The commission suggests that, as well as shifting the focus of drug education, “shooting galleries” — rooms where users can inject drugs — should be introduced; often the wrong people are in jail or in treatment; instead of the “criminal justice bias” of current policy, treating addiction should be seen as a health and social problem, rather than simply a cause of crime; jail sentences should only be given for the most serious drug-related crimes.

Although the report makes no recommendations on decriminalising drugs, it is implicit that possession of some soft drugs, such as cannabis, should no longer be an offence.

It concludes: “Drugs policy should . . . seek to regulate use and prevent harm rather than to prohibit use altogether.”

The Home Office defended its drugs strategy and said that significant progress had been made in tackling drug misuse. However, it would “continue to look to improve our work in this area wherever we can”.

The Metropolitan Police backed the commission’s approach. A spokesman said that it “reflects the principles within the Met’s strategy . . . that the focus is concentrated on drugs that do the most harm”.

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