John Wadham, director of Liberty:

"The Home Affairs Select Committee's focus on education and treatment rather than criminal sanction takes us a welcome step down the right road.

"Criminalisation has not worked. The Government should decriminalise possession, use and supply and supply of all drugs and replace the criminal regime with a system of civil regulation and control, so there is right of access to the lawful supply of all drugs.

"Supply and consumption should be carefully regulated - and supply to minors, for example, should remain a criminal offence - but overall, people should be allowed to make their own choices.

"That's something society accepts in allowing individuals to take part in dangerous activities from drinking and smoking to extreme sports; the same should be true here. Civil regulation and education must offer a better approach to the prevention of drug harm in a free society than prohibition".