A six year study by the UK Drug Policy Commission has reported back, and it recommends some serious changes to British drugs legislation.

As The Guardian report, the UKDPC’s report is the first significant independent report on drugs policy since 2000’s Police Federation report, which notably insisted that cannabis users be spared jail terms. The 173 page document has been pulled together by a host of academics, police professionals and scientists; the illustrious names on the panel include former head of the British Medical Research Council Professor Colin Blakemore, National Addictions Centre head Professor John Strang, and former chief inspector of constabulary David Blakey.

There are numerous radical recommendations in the report. The document proposes that possession of small amounts of drugs for personal consumption should become a civil rather than a criminal offence. The paper cites Portugal and the Czech Republic, both of which have implemented comparable laws without seeing a rise in drug use. Said policy would initially apply to cannabis, but the report moots the idea of expanding the remit to include other substances if the change proves successful.

The report also proposes greater leniency in relation to those found growing cannabis, suggesting that people caught with quantities below a certain volume should face gentle – or, indeed, no – sanctions. The report also notes that the toughening up of sentences for production or supply have made a negligible difference to Britain’s illegal drug trade, and calls for a review of sentencing policy.

It also recommends reworking the 1971 Misuse Of Drugs Act so that technical judgements about classification should be outsourced to an independent body with parliamentary oversight, and proposes a cross-party forum to help build consensus on drug policy. Despite the proposed reforms, it should be noted that the report takes pains to stress that the production and supply of the majority of drugs should remain illegal.

The report’s conclusion reads: “Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policymakers. In fact most users do not experience significant problems, and there is some evidence that drug use can have benefits in some circumstances.” According to Blakemore, the “overwhelming consensus now is that it is unethical, inefficient and dangerous to use untested and unvalidated methods of treatment and prevention. It is time that policy on illicit drug use starts taking evidence seriously as well.”