A POLICE force wants its area to be used as a pilot scheme for prescribing heroin to drug addicts.

Members of Cleveland Police Authority yesterday agreed to lobby the Home Office in a controversial move to tackle the number of users in the force's area.

Cleveland Police's chief constable, Sean Price, backed the scheme and said he hoped to know whether they would be given the go-ahead within 12 months.

He said: "If there are people who are addicted to heroin, then what we want to do is take them out of the market for illegal drugs.

"By prescribing drugs, we are taking them away from the evil people out there who are dealing them and making money out of it.

"It is achievable and is about treating people who are addicted to drugs as victims, the same way we treat victims of crime."

Mr Price, who opposes the total legalisation of drugs, said the force's Dealer-a-Day campaign, which targets drug dealers, would continue and the force would not go soft on the issue.

He said: "It is controversial because it is different, but it is part of a two-pronged strategy, and we will also be hitting the dealers very hard, as well as educating children from a very early age about the dangers of drugs."

Members of the police authority took part in a debate with local drug workers yesterday and heard the case for legalising all drugs, as well as how treatment plans work.