A NORTH-EAST Police Authority said yesterday it wanted to be the first in the country to pioneer treatment centres for addicts where they can be prescribed hard drugs.

Cleveland Police Authority said the war on drugs in Britain was not being won and that a new approach was needed to try to cut drugs-related crime.

Stockton councillor Stuart Collier told a meeting at Middlesbrough Town Hall that Cleveland Police Authority should pave the way by volunteering itself for centres where drugs such as heroin could be issued.

"If the addicts want drugs, make centres available for them so we can control them.

"I suggest that the Cleveland area is a pilot for it. To me this is the only way forward. It's going to stop a lot of crime."

Skelton councillor Dave McCluckie agreed. "If we had proper rehabilitation methods that allowed people to obtain what they need in a way that also helps them to rid themselves of the problem then I believe crimes of that sort would reduce considerably."

Russell Hart, vice-chairman of the authority and a Hartlepool councillor, urged the Government to make providing local rehabilitation centres a priority.

"It's the only way that society is going to rationally face up to this huge and ever expanding problem."

Members praised the work of Dr Ian Guy, who works with drug addicts in Grangetown, but said that many more schemes such as his were needed in Cleveland.

They agreed to write, expressing their views, to the House of Common's Home Affairs Select Committee on drugs.