A fifth of Sussex people have drink problem

One in five people in Sussex has a drink problem and almost 6,500 people across the county are drug users, new figures claim.

The announcement coincides with today's annual Sussex Drug and Alcohol conference at the University of Sussex, where more than 200 front-line workers, service users and carers will discuss treatments and developments.

Official figures say there are 3,380 drug users having treatment in Brighton and Hove, 1,900 in East Sussex and 1,200 in West Sussex. The actual figure is believed to be higher as it does not take into account the number of people using needle exchanges.

Health officials say about 20 per cent of the population are believed to be drinking in a way that harms their health.

Nick Casey, a substance abuse coordinator for Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust, said a lot of work was being done to bring drug and alcohol abuse down across the county with the NHS, police, councils and voluntary sector working together.

He said: "One of the jobs being done is to train people who work in areas such as housing, teaching and the probation service so they can learn how to help people who appear to be having problems and steer them in the right direction so they can get help.

"Other work includes targeting known users and criminals to get the message across. A recent successful campaign was held in Hastings and Eastbourne, where we placed large adverts on buses and distributed cards wherever we could.

"Promoting services available is also important and we need to target all sections of society. It is not just the marginalised, homeless people who can develop problems, it can also be happening in socalled respectable families."

For the past few years Brighton and Hove has had the unenviable title of drugs death capital of Britain. From 2003 to 2005 the city had the highest number of drug deaths a year per 100,000 population in the whole of England and Wales.

But the number of drugs-relateddeaths in Brighton has been falling - from 51 in 2005 to 43 in 2006.

Work being done to tackle the problem includes a harm reduction service centre in St George's Place, which provides needle exchanges, peer support and help for people coming off drugs.

Operation Reduction, run by Sussex Police, the charity Crime Reduction Initiatives and the city's drug and alcohol action team (DAAT), focuses on getting users into treatment and dealers off the streets.

Since it was launched in autumn 2005, more than 100 users have received treatment and burglaries in the city have fallen by 57 per cent.

In east Brighton, break-ins are down by 86 per cent and the scheme has received national awards and recognition.

Another project, one of the first of its kind in the country, has helped drug users who have become persistent shoplifters get treatment to tackle their addictions, leading to a 45 per cent drop in reported shoplifting incidents in the city.

A street services team helps rough sleepers and specialist nurses provide support to GPs treating users. Also, the city's treatment services, which help about 600 people a year, have been assessed independently as among the top ten in the country.

The Argus