The Metropolitan Police commander Brian Paddick, who is in charge of a softly, softly cannabis policing policy in Lambeth, has been rebuked by his superiors for telling MPs that arresting recreational cocaine and ecstasy users was low on his list of priorities.

But as London's police chief Sir John Stevens quickly moved to reprimand the officer, Andy Hayman, chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers, backed moves to downgrade ecstasy from a Class A to a Class B drug.

The ACPO chief also expressed support for the creation of legal "shooting galleries" for heroin addicts.