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A retired top cop, the Government's former chief drugs adviser and a police and crime commissioner are among a growing number of respected professionals joining stoners to call for a change in the law.

They claim the UK is wasting £500million a year and scant police resources on a "war on drugs" it CAN'T WIN and targeting patients and pot-heads alike for something 60% of young people have at least tried.

Many western countries – including the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Germany and half of American states – have legalised or decriminalised marijuana in some form.

Ireland is considering decriminalising ALL drugs at the moment.

But Britain is "an ostrich with its head in the sand", the experts warn.

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Professor David Nutt – former top drugs advisor to the Government – said drug use has DROPPED since Portugal decriminalised narcotics and started treating addicts as patients rather than criminals.

He claimed a MILLION Brits under 30 have a criminal record thanks to weed – and that does them more harm than the marijuana as they could turn to heroin in prison.

Prof Nutt – whose long list of titles include chairman of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, London, chairman of DrugScience and President of the European Brain Council – said there were "vast" benefits to using cannabis – but outdated laws are blocking proper scientific research.

He told the Daily Star Online: "We are the only country in the world, with the possible exception of Russia, that is moving drugs further towards punishment than health – and we are moving in the wrong direction.

"Two-thirds of Americans now have access to medical marijuana – and we continue to break down the doors of people with MS and lock them up.

"We are like an ostrich with its head in the sand."

He called for marijuana to be LEGALISED and regulated so authorities control how much people can access – like paracetemol.

As former chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police, Tom Lloyd spent 30 years banging up stoners.

But now he heads the National Cannabis Coalition – which calls for adults to be allowed to puff away and medicinal marijuana for anyone who needs it – including CHILDREN.

Mr Lloyd said dope is surrounded by unfounded myths – such as it causing psychosis.

He told the Daily Star Online: "If you go back to the 60s we had a few tens of thousands of cannabis users.

"Now we have three million – but we have seen no increase in schizophrenia.

"It is embarrassing for the UK to ignore what's happening around the world, where police, governments and law enforcement agencies realise that drug prohibition doesn't work.

"Sadly our Prime Minister and Home Secretary have closed their ears.

"They don't care about protecting children."

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So far 25 of America's 50 states have legalised medicinal cannabis, 18 have stopped locking up dope heads caught with small amounts, and four states – Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska – have legalised marijuana for RECREATIONAL use.

Spanish stoners are free to toke away in private "cannabis clubs".

Uruguay has completely legalised the drug – with the state even taking care of production.

But Britain is unlikely to follow suit.

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Prime Minister David Cameron is widely reported to have smoked dope – and snorted cocaine – as a uni student.

But the Government has ruled out any relaxing of the law on cannabis.

Mike Penning, Minister for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Victims, said: "The Government has no plans to decriminalise cannabis.

"There is clear scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can damage people’s mental and physical health and harms individuals and communities.

“The UK's approach on drugs remains clear – we must prevent drug use in our communities and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery.

"At the same time, we have to stop the supply of illegal drugs and tackle the organised crime behind the drugs trade."

Labour Party sources told the Daily Star Online it doesn't want any debate and it is "happy to leave things as they are".

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But some overstretched British police forces are already taking matters into their own hands and have quietly stopped prosecuting people caught with cannabis.

Derbyshire, Dorset, Surrey and Durham police are among forces no longer pursuing people who consume – or even GROW – small amounts of the class B drug.

A spokeswoman for Durham's police and crime commissioner Ron Hogg – who hit the headlines this summer after telling his officers to offer cannabis users drug treatment instead of arrest – said: "The current drugs policy is failing.

"If the aim is to stop people taking drugs and stop people committing crime in order to fund their habit we must follow the evidence and support people to recover rather than send them to prison.

"A wider debate on our approach to drug use is required."

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Peter Reynolds, of campaign group Cannabis Law Reform, said: "We are isolated in the world.

"There are 250million people in Europe who have access to medical cannabis.

"It's only France, the UK and Ireland who persist with this neanderthal approach.

"The laws against cannabis are causing by far the most harm.

"The criminalisation of cannabis creates a £6billion-a-year underground industry.

"If it were legalised that could create much needed employment."