Lib Dem Home Office Minister Norman Baker said politicians were out of step with public opinion and called for an end to "robotic mindless rhetoric".

Backbench Conservatives also expressed doubts about current policy but Downing Street said there would be no change.

A report found no obvious link between tough laws and levels of drug use.

The findings of the Home Office report, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats to compare drugs policies in different countries, prompted a row at the top of the coalition.

Lib Dem deputy prime minister Nick Clegg accused his Conservative colleagues of trying to block the report, and of a "totally misplaced, outdated, backward-looking view".

Downing Street in turn accused Mr Clegg of sending "an incredibly dangerous message" and said that drug use in the UK was "plummeting" because of existing policy.

But during the Commons debate brought by Green MP Caroline Lucas, Conservative MPs Robert Syms, Bob Stewart and Zac Goldsmith expressed unease with the current approach.

Mr Syms said: "Contrary to press reports, there are many of us on these benches, the Conservative benches, that believe in evidence-based reform to have a more effective policy in dealing with the scourge of drugs."

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End 'robotic rhetoric' on drug policy, says UK Minister