County Durham and Darlington police commissioner Ron Hogg is calling for a revolution in drugs policy. He explains how his experiences in the police force have helped him reach his conculsions.

I HAVE been extremely lucky to have been a police officer for over 30 years, rising to the rank of deputy chief constable.

Since leaving the police service and becoming the police and crime commissioner for County Durham and Darlington, I have also been fortunate to work with chief constable Michael Barton, who is determined to dismantle organised crime.

It is no secret that organised crime controls the illicit drug supply market. It is with this in mind that we must consider different approaches to stemming the opportunities available to the suppliers and treating the addict as a victim and not a criminal.

The typical addict encounters problems at puberty, be it from problems in the home, community or school and they want to escape, or rebel. That is where the supplier comes in, usually someone who is uneducated, lazy, doesn't work and is used to resolving problems with their fists not through debate.

The addict is now in the grasps of the supplier. They'd go back for more and suddenly become addicted to the drug they saw as an escape from reality, and will start to build up debt with the dealer. Once hooked, they have to feed their habit.

It generally starts with them stealing from their family and loved ones. This leads to family fallouts and the addict leaving home.

Their habit still exists and they now have a choice - give up or pay for more drugs. The addict will build up more debt, but sooner or later the supplier will recover their money, with the threat of violence if they don't pay.

The addict is left in no position but to steal to pay for their drugs. Some even turn to prostitution and sell their bodies.

I have learnt that the addict is a victim, with the drug pushers and suppliers being the real offenders.

Heroin is one of the most chaotic drugs out there. Once the user is hooked, they need to feed their habit. Nationally there are just short of 300,000 heroin and crack cocaine users. Of those, 93,400 inject the drugs. In County Durham and Darlington, there are approximately 1,700 people in drug treatment for opiate addiction.

A high proportion of property crime is caused by offenders hooked on drugs. They seize on opportunities and steal in order to earn money.

Over the last three years 40 people have died from drugs overdose and nationally we have seen many deaths from contaminated heroin.

Every now and again the addict enters a drugs programme, but sadly they don't always succeed and go back to the dealers. The drug treatment workers do a fantastic job, but invariably the addict is put onto a methadone maintenance programme, which isn't always the most successful treatment available.

In 1994, Switzerland began a trial diamorphine maintenance program for users that had failed multiple withdrawal programs; they would be given injectable heroin 3 times a day.

This program which still exists today, found that heroin addicts were more likely to stay in treatment, no overdoses, limited reports of problems in neighbourhoods.

Use of non-prescribed heroin fell significantly, users avoided illegal activities and over 60 per cent of addicts are in drugs treatment.

The success of the Swiss trials led to similar programs elsewhere.

Between 2006 and 2011 the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust took part in a national research project where a hardcore of heroin users were allowed to inject medical grade heroin.

These trials took place in Darlington, Brighton and London.

Results showed that prescribing pharmaceutical heroin in this way can reduce the use of street drugs and associated levels of crime. It was also shown to improve the individual's health and quality of life and gave them the stability they needed to recover.

A group of national experts said that the results from the three centres offered the Government "robust evidence to support the expansion of this treatment so that more patients can benefit".

The successes of these trials have led myself and the chief constable to believe that this approach to treating heroin addiction should be explored further, certainly county wide.

What I want to achieve is about: taking drugs off the streets, removing profits from criminals, reducing crime, freeing up police time to target the dealers and crime groups, testing low level criminals to see if they are using drugs, if so to divert them into treatment, not the criminal justice system.

It is also about treating addicts as victims, with the health service taking the lead, not the police, giving the treatment services the proper tools to let them succeed and treating the addicts with safe heroin, with consistent purities and safe additives - reducing disease and death What I am suggesting is nothing new, heroin has been prescribed in the UK since 1926. Together we can take the demand out of this market, and the opportunities from dealers.

We are not going soft on drugs; we believe we are going sensible. Durham Constabulary has been recognised as one of the most effective forces to tackle the supply of drugs. What we need is a means of making the market in controlled drugs less lucrative.