Today

A leading British police chief has caused outrage after claiming that the illegal rave drug ecstasy is safer to take than aspirin.

Richard Brunstrom, the chief constable of North Wales, made the controversial claim on BBC's Today programme on Tuesday (January 1).

"Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin. It is far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, both of which are freely available," he said.

Mr Brunstrom has long campaigned for illicit drugs like heroin, cocaine and ecstasy to be made legal.

The 52-year-old acknowledged that his was a minority view, but said the attitudes of society were slowly changing.

"I'm certainly out of step with the majority of senior police officers, but not all of them," he said.

"But in terms of society, public attitudes change quite rapidly and you need look no further than drinking and driving: in the space of my lifetime drinking and driving has gone from being socially acceptable, almost the norm, to being socially unacceptable.

Mr Brunstrom also believes the decriminalisation of all drugs is just "10 years away".

"I think that the legalisation and subsequent regulation of proscribed drugs is now inevitable, and I think its ten years away, not ten months away," he said.

"It has already happened in for instance Portugal, a full member of the European Union, decriminalised under the existing international treaties.

Richard Brunstrom: "Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance, far safer than aspirin. It is far less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, both of which are freely available."

"The same sort of thing is being talked about across the world."

But Mr Brunstrom's views were heavily criticised by the Government and the Conservative party.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Ecstasy can and does kill unpredictably - there is no such thing as a 'safe dose'. The Government firmly believes that ecstasy should remain a Class A drug.

"The Government is opposed to the legalisation of drugs which would increase drug-related harm and break both international and domestic law."

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said Mr Brunstrom had "simplistic and convenient solutions" to illegal drug use.

"One reason that the Government's drugs policy has failed in the past 10 years is because of the confused and ill thought-out attitudes of both the Government and some senior policemen," Mr Davis said.

He added: "If you thoughtlessly downgrade cannabis or treat dangerous drugs as 'no worse than aspirin', you make a gift to the drug dealers and criminals who are destroying the lives of so many young people."

Anti-drugs campaigners also condemned Mr Brunstrom’s comments.

Peter Stoker, of the National Drugs Prevention Alliance, told the Daily Mail: "Mr Brunstrom should resign. His comments are increasingly incompatible with his position.

"The danger from illegal drugs isn't just a question of how poisonous it is in the short-term - although any dose of ecstasy can kill.

"It includes the damaging behaviour which people are sucked into and the harm it does to those around them, particularly their families."

Mr Brunstrom's comments, as controversial and idiotic as they might sound, are, however, statistically correct.

Figures from the Home Office reveal that there have been around 200 ecstasy-related deaths in the UK since 1996.

Aspirin, meanwhile, kills around 60 people a year, according to a Daily Mirror article. However, the newspaper also points out that these are mainly suicides.

DrugScope, the London-based drugs charity, said the legalisation of all drugs is highly unlikely.