Drug barons' cash to save young addicts

More than £340,000 seized from the fortunes of convicted drug barons has been recycled to fund two key London projects to get addicts clean and save teenagers from slipping into abuse.

Drugs Minister Bob Ainsworth said today the money confiscated from cocaine and heroin smugglers will be put to use to save young Londoners.

And on a visit to the Westminster Drug Project he will send a clear signal that the Government has no intention of being pressured into taking a softer line on Class A drugs such as Ecstasy, cocaine and heroin.

Parliament is likely to be asked in the spring to approve key changes on the legal status of cannabis, which would become a Class C drug alongside steroids. Downgrading the drug from Class B would mean it was no longer an arrestable offence to be in possession of small quantities.

When the issue is debated in the Commons and the Lords, it is expected supporters of more liberal drugs laws will argue that no-one should ever be prosecuted for small scale possession of even hard drugs.

But Mr Ainsworth, who will appear next week before a committee of MPs scrutinising Government drugs policy, will say a softer line on cannabis will not open the way to further reform.

The Government believes the scope to prosecute young drug users is important because it is often impossible to get problem users into treatment until they come to the attention of the courts.

The Minister said: "The criminal justice system provides a unique opportunity to get drug users to address their problems and steer them into treatment and away from offending. That is one of the benefits of maintaining a legal system that prohibits the possession and supply of harmful drugs."

Most of today's money - £235,000 - will go towards a project to get messages about the dangers of drugs across to refugee and asylum seeking groups who live in some of the most rundown estates where drugs are rife.

A further £105,000 will go towards a second project that will involve former abusers in setting up drug treatment programmes more likely to get to hardto-reach addicts.

The projects, which will be run by the GLA, represent a coup for Mayor Ken Livingstone. He said: "Prior to my election I promised to lead an initiative to use the confiscated assets of drug dealers to invest in drugs rehabilitation and awareness programmes, and the funding for the two projects announced today will do just that."