THREE in five people back a major review of drugs law and even want legalisation considered.

The verdict in a You-Gov poll for The Sun came as Deputy PM Nick Clegg called for the possible legalisation of drugs in an exclusive interview with The Sun.

He declared the war on drugs a disastrous failure last night - and demanded that David Cameron plucks up the "courage" to order a major review of Britain's ageing narcotics laws.

In an explosive intervention that will rock the Coalition, Mr Clegg insisted: "It's time we told the truth."

And he threw his weight behind a controversial report by MPs this week that called on ministers to consider legalising cannabis and stop prosecuting even cocaine and heroin users.

The Lib Dem leader said: "We are losing the war on drugs on an industrial scale.

"In politics, as in life, you can't keep on doing something that doesn't work. You can't keep repeating the same mistakes."

Mr Clegg explained: "If you were waging any other war where you have 2,000 fatalities a year, your enemies are making billions in profits, constantly throwing new weapons at you and targeting more young people - you'd have to say you are losing and it's time to do something different.

"I'm anti-drugs - it's for that reason I'm pro reform."

On Monday, after a year-long Parliamentary inquiry, the influential Home Affairs Committee recommended a royal commission to review all options, including legalisation, as present policy has failed.

But David Cameron was swift to slam the door on the call, saying that the Government's current policy "actually is working".

That has already led to a behind-the-scenes bust-up between the two men, Mr Clegg revealed.

He said: "I was disappointed that the Home Office ruled out an open-minded, level-headed look at all this before the ink had even dried on the committee report.

"I told the Prime Minister that this was a missed opportunity.

"He knows my views on this. He and I don't agree on this."

He said: "For too long, people in politics have worried that saying something differently can somehow look like you're being soft.

"It's important now to pluck up the courage to speak out."

His comments will be interpreted as a thinly-veiled attack on Mr Cameron personally.

As a backbench MP in 2002, the Premier voted FOR an earlier call from the same committee to look at decriminalising drugs use.

Dubbing the Westminster status quo "a conspiracy of silence", Mr Clegg went on: "Politicians admit the war on drugs is not working.

"But when they're in government, they say everything is fine.

"We've got to level with the British people and tell them what many people already know - it's time to do something different."

He revealed he has taken the unusual step of ordering Home Office minister Jeremy Browne on a fact-finding mission in a bid to over-ride Tory opposition to a royal commission.

He wants the Lib Dem minister to compile a dossier on liberal approaches that have succeeded in Portugal, Amsterdam, several US states and Latin America.

He also made an election pledge to include a "clear commitment" to a royal commission on drugs in his party's 2015 manifesto.

Mr Clegg also revealed that former Mexican president Felipe Calderon had privately admitted to him last year that a brutal military war against drugs barons, which has claimed 60,000 lives so far, had been lost. The Deputy PM recalled: "He said to me, 'It's not working. We can't win against these odds'."

Mr Clegg said the UK could not relax drugs laws alone when it is an international problem. But Britain should be leading the debate.

He insisted he is NOT for full legalisation. But he feels decriminalising possession while cracking down on traffickers and dealers "may be a solution". The Deputy PM insisted his call did not make him "soft". And he claimed powerful allies in his call for change - including ex-MI5 boss Baroness Manningham-Buller and ex-deputy chief of MI6 Nigel Inkster. Mr Clegg said: "It's not just me. The Association of Chief Police Officers say we must update our approach.

"Far from being soft, I want to get tougher on gangs who profit from the misery of drug addicts."

He added: "The Government is doing great things on treatment. But there is no room for complacency. I suspect many Sun readers know that the approach we have been taking is not working. We owe it to young people to find what does work and then do it."

One in five youngsters aged 11 to 15 admits having used drugs.

Danny Kushlick, of drugs legalisation group Transform, said: "Nick Clegg is to be congratulated for telling us the truth about the war on drugs."

But Tory MP Philip Davies said: "Drugs cause such misery. It's naive to think that by liberalising the market you solve the problem."

My boy lied and stole for skunk

Try telling that to the hundreds of parents who wrote to me after I published a book about my son William's addiction.

He became hooked on "skunk", which accounts for 80 per cent of the cannabis sold. Users are seven times more likely to develop psychosis.

My son is now drug-free, but it drove us to breaking point. We threw him out, we took him back. He lied and stole. People will think Clegg has all the facts. This gives them a green light to smoke cannabis.

Cannabis made my son lose his mind

He has been sectioned for the last 14 years - and I'd estimate his care has cost the state about £100,000 each year.

If Clegg wants to legalise cannabis he should know it is going to cost the taxpayer a lot of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Bobby started smoking due to peer pressure but I was surprised. We are a good family and Bobby had everything he wanted. He could have a great life.

Article and comments from Liberal Democrat Voice