A ONCE-LEGAL drug linked to dozens of teenage deaths around the country is no longer a major problem in a rural dale.

Teesdale, in County Durham, was once considered the epicentre of the drug mephedrone.

The area was identified as the place where the drug, made illegal in April, was most prevalent in the region.

The dale’s police force was at the forefront of a national campaign to criminalise the substance, which is derived from a form of plant food.

The mephedrone problem in the area came to a head when five teenagers from Cockfield, near Bishop Auckland, had to be taken to hospital after taking the drug.

Officers also reported irrational and erratic behaviour being displayed by those who had taken the legal high.

“We were getting reports of people being hospitalised and police officers being assaulted by people who had been taking mephedrone,” said Sergeant Chris Knox, from Barnard Castle police.

“We were also taking people into custody who were behaving very erratically.”

The rise in popularity of the drug prompted the police to launch a campaign to warn young people of the dangers of the substance.

Working with Durham Agency Against Crime, police also helped produce an educational DVD, warning young people of the dangers of legal highs.

A month after parliament made mephedrone illegal, officers in Teesdale uncovered what was then the force’s biggest haul – a quarter of a kilo stash worth up to £5,000.

But now Teesdale’s senior police officers say they are coming across the drug less and less.

Sergeant Knox, said: “There was a lot of work put in in the Teesdale area in terms of the educational side and working with the schools.

“Combined with that there was also the enforcement side, and we managed to execute a number of warrants to search premises.

“It is now at a manageable level. I certainly wouldn’t say it is an acceptable level, but it is now manageable.

“We are finding it on people as much as something in the same category such as cannabis.

“Because of the transport links and the fact that people move in and out of the area, there will always be some mephedrone in Teesdale, but we aren’t getting anywhere near as many reports.”