Some 82 per cent of Oxford Mail readers voted in support of legalising cannabis in an online poll yesterday, echoing the views of a cross-party group of MPs this week that called for an end to the 'embarassment' of domestic drugs policy.

Former deputy prime minster Nick Clegg and former health minister Norman Lamb joined Labour and Tory figures to back a new report which claimed legalisation of the Class B drug could net the Treasury more than £1 billion a year in tax revenue.

Just 18 per cent of participants in the Oxford Mail's vote yesterday said they were not in favour of the move.

It came as Germany gets ready to legalise cannabis for medical purposes and Canada prepares for all-out decriminalisation.

The Netherlands effectively decriminalised cannabis decades ago while Portugal legalised it in 2001.

A legal cannabis market could be worth £6.8 billion to the economy annually, potentially netting between £750 million and £1.05 billion in tax revenues and reduced criminal justice costs.

But Andrew Smith, the MP for Oxford East, said that while he had mixed feelings on the use of the drug he would not back a change in law.

He told the Oxford Mail: "There is a need for more public consultation on this, but I think a lot of parents would be very worried at the signal it gives children.

"It would be good if we could approach the use of illegal drugs more as a medical problem rather than simply a criminal issue.

"I am sympathetic to the medical use of canabbis derivatives, where these have proven medical benefit, butthe argument that general cannabis legalisation would haul in a lot of money for the Treasury is not a conclusive reason for doing it."