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Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said his party will abolish jail sentences for drug possession if he wins the next election.

Mr Clegg’s proposal would see prison sentences abolished in England and Wales even for possession of Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

The Lib Dems believe that people who use drugs should be treated for addiction rather than caged behind bars.

The party says 1,000 people a year are jailed for the possession of drugs for their own personal use at a cost to the taxpayer of £5m.

Half of those serving time are in jail for using the Class B drug cannabis.

Mr Clegg told the Sun: “At the moment, we are doing an utterly senseless thing - chucking the people who need treatment behind bars so they simply become even more vulnerable to the criminal gangs who exploited them in the first place.”

The Lib Dems’ plan is a manifesto commitment for the party rather than being a change in the Tory-led Coalition’s policy.

Clegg said in December 2012 that Britain was losing the war on drugs ‘on an industrial scale’ and called on PM David Cameron to consider decriminalisation.

But his call set him at odds with Cameron, who denied the government’s drugs policy was failing.

Mr Cameron said: “The government, I think, has got a good record on these things and there is some evidence that drug use and abuse is falling.”

The Home Office is currently undertaking a review into Britain’s drug policy, considering how the law on drugs works in different countries.

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Home Secretary Theresa May has previously said there was no need for a rethink on Britain’s approach to drugs.

But the review has examined drugs policies such as Denmark’s ‘fixing rooms’ where addicts can inject without fear of prosecution.

It has also looked at countries such as Portugal, which has decriminalised personal possession.

Mr Clegg added: “We should be treating these people, we should be dealing with them.

“We shouldn’t be putting them back into the hands of the dealers. The people who should be behind bars are the criminal gangs, the Mr Bigs.”

The news came as it was reported the Government will give heroin addicts free foil to encourage them to smoke rather than inject the drug.

The move is designed to encourage junkies to kick the habit and cut their risk of contracting diseases through dirty needles.

It is currently illegal for health officials to give junkies free foil, but new laws are expected to revoke the ban.