"I'm certainly out of step with the majority of senior police officers, but not all of them," said Brunstrom during an appearance on BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme Today.

"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."

"I think that the legalisation and subsequent regulation of proscribed drugs is now inevitable, and I think it's ten years away, not ten months away."

Brunstrom has previously criticised prohibition and called for legal distribution of heroin to addicts in an effort to reduce crime.

But this is the first time that he has called for outright legalisation across the board.

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

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

"We're still causing something like £20bn worth of damage to our society every year."

"More than half of all recorded crime is caused by people feeding a drugs habit."

Clearly unafraid of courting controversy, Brunstrom asserted that ecstasy was relatively non-toxic compared to aspirin -- a claim that divides experts in the field.

"Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance -- it's far safer than aspirin," he said.

"If you look at the government's own research into deaths you'll find that ecstasy, by comparison to many other substances -- legal and illegal -- it is comparably a safe substance."

Although his opponents may find his arguments unpalatable, Brunstrom feels that his position is the only rational and logical one to take.

"The government wants evidence-based policy; the evidence is very clear that prohibition doesn't work, it can't work, an enforcement-led strategy is making things worse, not better."