A HOME office minister visited the North-East yesterday to see how pioneering drugs strategies are being used to tackle crime.

Caroline Flint met Cleveland Police chiefs to discuss how they are using new powers to treat crack cocaine users in Middlesbrough and disrupt the flow of the drug into other parts of the region.

She said: "This will greatly help us turn around the lives of individuals and the communities who are most affected.

"New figures show that 71 per cent of those arrested in the Cleveland area interviewed by a drugs worker have opted to enter a treatment programme.

"Considering this is a voluntary scheme that's very promising."

After meeting Chief Constable Sean Price and members of Cleveland Police Authority at the force headquarters in Middlesbrough, Mrs Flint travelled to Stockton to see police work in the Parkfield area of the town.

Police authority chairman Ken Walker said: "The meeting was a chance to discuss with the minister how we might be able to use the experiences of reformed drug users to get across the horrors of addiction.

"We also outlined the pioneering work being carried out in this area in the development of treatment services, including clinics to care for addicts."

Senior local government figures joined prison officials at a conference in Middlesbrough yesterday to forge a new partnership to cut crime.

It was opened by the town's mayor Ray Mallon and organised by Middlesbrough Council and the International Centre for Prison Studies, Kings College, London.

The idea is to improve communication between councils and prisons, to prepare how to deal with ex-prisoners when they are released back into society.