A New South Wales government-commissioned special inquiry into drug use has slammed the criminalisation of drug users as a “profound flaw” in the state’s criminal justice system and recommended the complete decriminalisation of drug possession in the state.

Released on Thursday, the inquiry has described the state’s current laws as “tired” and “lacking in imagination”, and called for the introduction of pill testing, the abolition of drug dogs at music festivals and an expansion of medically supervised injection rooms in the state.

But the NSW government has been quick to rule out at least some of the recommendations of its own inquiry, saying it will continue to oppose pill testing despite the weight of evidence in its favour.

The report found criminalisation of drug use had caused “disproportionate harm” to users, was “not effective” in curbing drug use and gave society “tacit permission to turn a blind eye” to factors underlying drug use including childhood abuse, domestic violence, unemployment and social disadvantage.

“[B]y stigmatising people who use and possess illicit drugs as criminals, we are marginalising them and raising significant barriers that discourage them from seeking help,” commissioner Dan Howard wrote in his forward to the report.

“This makes it much harder for our health system and other agencies of social support to identify and help them. It is clear from the evidence that this dynamic is causing our society harm that significantly outweighs any benefit from the limited deterrent of treating people who use or possess drugs as criminals.”

The release of the report comes nearly 12 months to the day since the NSW coroner called for the government to consider the decriminalisation of drug use after a special inquest into the deaths of six people from opioids.

While that recommendation was ignored, the findings of the special commission – which was established by the premier, Gladys Berejiklian – will put considerable pressure on the government to overhaul drug policy in the state.

The government established the special commission into the drug ice, or crystal methamphetamine, in November 2018 following a spate of deaths. The terms of the inquiry were later widened at Howard’s recommendation to include “other illicit amphetamine type stimulants” including MDMA.

At the time Berejiklian said she was “convinced” the inquiry would find no evidence that pill testing works.

Instead, the commission found there was “strong and compelling evidence” to support pill testing “as an effective harm reduction measure”. It recommended the government establish “a state-wide clinically supervised substance testing, education and information service with branches at fixed-site locations” as well as trial pill testing at a music festival.

In remarks that closely mirrored a November coroner’s report which recommended pill testing and the abolishment of drug dogs, the inquiry also found that “the risk to health and life caused by deploying drug detection dogs” at music festivals was “not justified”.

But after its release on Thursday the government was quick to rule out a number of the inquiries recommendations, including fixed-site pill testing, the abolishment of drug dogs and an expansion of medically supervised injecting centres in the state.

“In response to the inquest into the deaths of six patrons of NSW music festivals, the government made it clear that it does not consider there is sufficient evidence to introduce substance checking (colloquially known as ‘pill testing’) services,” the government said in its interim response.

“The government also maintains its view that drug detection dogs are the best method for police to screen large crowds of people for the presence of drug odours.”

In his forward to the report the inquiry’s commissioner, Howard was deeply critical of the current government approach to drug policy, writing that where once the state had been a “world leader” in drug policy it had “stagnated considerably” since 2006.

“It is clear that our current drug policies are inadequate to meet the profound harms that crystal methamphetamine and other ATS pose to the health and fabric of our society,” he wrote.

“Our policies are tired, lacking in imagination and out of step with best practice worldwide; they are simply not working, and the resources allocated to harm reduction and treatment are insufficient.”

Following the report’s release NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said she would introduce a bill into the upper house pushing for the decriminalisation of possession.

“Leading drug and health experts and people directly impacted by the drug ice gave sometimes harrowing evidence and advice to guide the report’s recommendations,” she said.

“We owe it to them, and to all those affected by drug harm and who might be in need of support, to analyse and urgently implement any findings.

“In the coming months I’ll be finalising a bill to decriminalise the use and possession of currently illicit drugs in NSW. The commissioner’s recommendation is just the latest in a long line of recommendations that are guided by evidence to decriminalise drugs.”