THE North-East is to receive an extra £8m from the Government for community projects which tackle drug abuse.

Twelve drug action teams across the region will see their funding increase from the current annual total of £11.7m to £19.7m in 2005/6.

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, which is responsible for allocating the money, says its aim is to bring down waiting times for drug addiction treatment and expand services.

It is predicting an eight per cent annual rise in the number of addicts seeking treatment.

David Cliff, co-ordinator of the Durham Drug Action Team, welcomed the extra funding but warned that it still faced a huge challenge.

The team will see its budget rise from £1.89m in 2002/3 to £3.01m in 2005/6.

Mr Cliff said: "It is a substantial amount of money over the next three years, which will increase our resources by about 30 per cent.

"That said, we still have a huge challenge in terms of the whole range of services that we need to fund.

"We have a considerable way to go to get to the level of comprehensive services that we would like."

Mr Cliff said the need for a national strategy on alcohol abuse was paramount.

He also said that heroin remained a problem across the area, particularly in East Durham and Sedgefield.

Crack cocaine had a developing market in some areas and the drug action team was hoping to tackle this with the help of the police.