Britain's drugs laws were introduced in 1971, but a peer said there were more people using a wider range of drugs, and she called for a reform of the rules "to keep our young people much safer".

The chair of the All Party Group of Drug Policy Reform said existing laws were not working. And in her personal film for BBC2's Daily Politics, Baroness Meacher reckoned 77% of MPs also wanted reform and Britain was out of step with other western nations.

Last week, Nick Clegg said it was time to look "imaginatively" at new ways of tackling the UK's drugs problem, while Durham's police chief said drug addicts should be "treated and cared for, not criminalised" and decriminalisation would take away the income of dealers.

Baroness Meacher later debated her film with MPs Emma Reynolds and Steve Webb: UK viewers can see the full programme on IPlayer for seven days from transmission.

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