A CRIME commissioner has welcomed a new study into the government’s approach to drug misuse - labelling it 'long overdue'.

The Home Office paper on illegal drugs – the first of its kind for 43 years which was released on the day the House of Commons debated the issue - suggests dealing with drugs possession as a health issue cuts the number of drug-related deaths and HIV rates without increasing rates of addiction.

Ron Hogg, Durham’s Police and Crime Commissioner has been a long time advocate of taking a radical approach to tackling drug addiction.

He said: “As PCC I have been calling for a sensible debate on drugs policy. We need a new approach to drug addiction which supports addicts into recovery, rather than dealing with them through the Criminal Justice System.

"This is the way to break their cycle of offending, at the same time as choking the incomes of the real criminals – those drug dealers making money out of others’ misery.

“But above all we need our leaders and policy-makers to have an evidence-based discussion about drugs, free from fear of the tabloids and knee-jerk cries that we are going soft. Those of us who have been saying this for some time will be pleased at today’s developments."

Earlier this year, Mr Hogg said evidence showed that decriminalisation and supplying addicts with drugs like heroin on the NHS could dramatically reduce drug-related crime.

He also backed Caroline Lewis MP, who led today’s (Thursday, October 30) Commons' debate in favour of decriminalising personal drugs possession.

The Home Office research, fronted by Liberal Democrat Norman Baker MP, follows visits by ministers to ten countries with differing drugs policies.

However, its findings are unlikely to lead to a change in government policy.

The Home Office said the Government had "absolutely no intention of decriminalising drugs” adding that current policy is working. It added that it valued the report in as far as it summarised different countries’ approaches to the problem.

However, Mr Hogg believes it is time for a change.

“The Government can’t stick its head in the sand and cuddle up to the tabloid press any longer," he added. "It must listen to the evidence and the views of more and more elected representatives up and down the country who recognise that we need a new approach.

“I joined the police in 1978 and I’ve seen the drugs problem get worse and worse and organised crime make more and more money out of it.

“David Cameron has lost the will to tackle the problem.”