A WIRRAL Euro MP has added his voice to those of Sir Richard Branson, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and three former chief constables in calling for an end to the criminalisation of drug use.

Northwest Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies said the present laws help put billions in the hands of criminals and do nothing to protect society.

His support follows calls by Sir Richard and Dame Judi Dench today for the Government to consider decriminalising drugs as its current policy was condemned as a failure.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy, whose members include former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, warned that major policy reforms were needed to help reduce the prison population and stop wasting millions of pounds.

Dame Judi backed calls for the "immediate decriminalisation of drug possession" should a policy review show it has failed while Sir Richard said a new approach was needed.

Nearly 80,000 people in the UK were convicted or cautioned for possessing an illegal drug in the last year alone and "most were young, black or poor", the letter published by campaign group Release said.

Mr Davies said, “Chicago gangster Al Capone did well out of US alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, but legions of his kind now make a fortune out of 21st century drugs prohibition on a world-wide scale.

"They corrupt officials, undermine governments, and make a laughing stock of police forces across the world."

“If people could buy cannabis from a chemist, they wouldn’t need to buy it from a heroin dealer.

"If Tesco supplied pot, the profits wouldn’t go to terrorists."

The intervention of high-profile public figures, backed by many others including Sting, actor Julie Christie and former defence minister Bob Ainsworth, comes as a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy said action was needed "urgently" and "policies need to change now".

"There are signs of inertia in the drug policy debate in some parts of the world as policymakers understand that current policies and strategies are failing but do not know what to do instead," the report said.

The commission called for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to help create "a truly co-ordinated and coherent global drug strategy that balances the need to stifle drug supply and fight organised crime with the need to provide health services, social care, and economic development to affected individuals and communities".