Peter Neyroud, Chief Constable of Thames Valley, has called for a fresh approach to tackling drug problems.

Mr Neyroud and Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris attacked recent drugs policy during a debate at Oxford Town Hall organised by the Cowley-Road based SMART (Substance Misuse Arrest Referral Team).

Mr Neyroud wanted to see a solution which did not involve a constant flow of offenders through the criminal justice system. He called for "going straight contracts", a type of restorative justice caution which would allow individuals to make a fresh start while facing up to what they had done. He regards rehabilitation as playing a key role in cutting crime.

"What we have been doing in the last decade has not made things any better," he said. "There's a need to focus on things that work. Spending a lot of time trying to criminalise every drug user in sight has not been a successful strategy."

He rejected American-style "drug courts", where offenders appear before judges with a specialised knowledge, because this would continue to involve conventional prosecutions.

"If we march down the road of drug courts we will be pursuing people through the criminal justice system. More imagination might be useful," he said.

Lib Dem Dr Harris, who said he had never smoked cannabis because of his objection to cigarettes on health grounds, said: "What's far more dangerous than smoking it is criminalising it, because it drives people into far more danger."

Other speakers at the meeting included former newspaper editor Rosie Boycott and Kevin Sabet, a White House adviser on drugs policy.