A PANEL of MPs is expected to recommend this week that more GPs should be given the power to prescribe so-called ''medical heroin'' to addicts.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has already paved the way for the move to deal with Britain's soaring addiction rates.

But the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee may go further tomorrow by calling for controversial "shooting galleries" where addicts can inject under supervision.

The committee's ten-month investigation is also expected to recommend the downgrading of cannabis and Ecstasy.

It is expected to say diamorphine - "medical heroin" - should be more widely available on prescription to combat the "chaotic lifestyles" of the UK's 240,000 heroin addicts.

Conservatives are expected to oppose plans to downgrade Ecstasy to a class B drug and also effectively decriminalise cannabis.

But former Cabinet minister and Redcar MP Mo Mow-lam urges ministers to have the "guts'' to legalise them. "I would legalise both. Then you can regulate it, make sure it's clean, how it is sold, in addition you could tax it," she said.

Tina Williams, project manager of the group Parents and Addicts Against Narcotics in the Community, based in Stockton, Teesside, whose son is a recovering heroin addict, said she supported the greater availability of diamorphine on prescription, but only as a last resort. "We need more residential rehabilitation accommodation to get people off heroin. It is far cheaper to send someone there than send them to prison," she said.

Dr Brendan Olding runs the Fulcrum Medical Practice in Stockton where 400 heroin addicts are given a range of drugs on prescription, including methadone. He is not convinced that prescribing diamorphine would help control younger addicts who are associated with street crime.

"The people we are treating tend not to be the chaotic young people that the Government wants to tackle," he said.