A SENIOR city councillor last night backed calls to decriminalise heroin and cocaine after a former Government adviser said a rethink was needed over UK drug laws.

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, former president of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), said there was a “strong case for trying a different approach” and the Government should be treating drugs as a “health issue rather than criminalising people”.

He urged the Government to consider decriminalising drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine, because the blanket ban had failed to cut crime or improve health.

Last night Patrick Murray, a city councillor for Barton and Sandhills, agreed with the radical approach – but knew the stance was controversial.

Mr Murray believes the country should adopt a similar drugs policy to Switzerland, which has regulated the use of heroin and has introduced harm reduction measures such as supervised injection rooms.

Mr Murray said: “I am speaking in a personal capacity and not for my whole party.

“I saw so many people caught up in this when I was homeless and I know I will probably lose votes over this, but what is the point in being a politician if you cannot speak out about what you believe in?

“Hard drugs like heroin and crack destroy lives, destroy communities and are the major cause of serious crime.

“Prohibition has quite simply failed.

“We need to look at the Swiss model if we really want to reduce drug addiction and all the horrible social effects that come with it.

“A generation ago they had one of the worst hard drugs problems in the Western World.

“Now they have one of the lowest rates of addiction, and one of the lowest rates of drug related crime.

“They achieved this by removing the supply of drugs from multi-national criminal gangs and by turning it into a medical problem.

“There are still stiff criminal penalties for those who try to profit from this misery.

“But addicts no longer need to steal to fund their addiction and there are safe places for them to go, where there are drug counsellors and programmes to help them off drugs and stop the misery caused to wider society.”

Last month Prof David Nutt, who was sacked as the Labour government’s top drugs adviser after saying ecstasy was less harmful than alcohol, said the UK needed a radical new approach to drugs laws, which might include the regulated sale of some drugs.

Mr Murray added: “People are very scared to talk about this. The former head of the drugs advisory panel, senior police officers, and now the head of the RCP have all supported this view.

“These are people who see the damage caused by drugs every day and they understand that prohibition has handed a multi-billion industry to unscrupulous criminal gangs, which destroys lives and communities here, and funds people trafficking, guns and terrorism abroad.

“It is time to look at countries where they have solved this problem, and be honest and grown up enough to understand how.”

A Home Office spokesman said: "Drugs such as heroin, cocaine and cannabis are extremely harmful and can cause misery to communities across the country.

“The Government does not believe that decriminalisation is the right approach. Our priorities are clear.

“We want to reduce drug use, crack down on drug-related crime and disorder, and help addicts come off drugs for good.”