DRUG and alcohol treatment budgets across Lancashire have been slashed at the same time as drug-related deaths have risen, shock new figures reveal.

Data shows that £3.3million has been cut from drug and alcohol treatment budgets, coupled with a 26 per cent rise in drug-related deaths over the last four years.

Freedom of information (FOI) requests shows that Lancashire County Council, which receives Public Health England grants, in 2013/14 spent almost £19.5m of their grant upon substance misuse strategies.

But budgets this financial year for 2017/18 have been cut to just over £16m representing a cut to services of more than £3,.3m or 17 per cent in just four years.

While deaths relating to drug misuse in Lancashire have risen from 151 in 2012/14 to 190 in 2014/16, according to data released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Of the 118 councils who responded to the FOI request, a total of £452m has been spent on alcohol and drug misuse strategies from public health grants this year, compared with £535m in 2013/14 – a cut of 15.5 per cent.

Lancashire is second in the order of councils which responded with the largest amount of drop off in spend in drug and alcohol treatment.

Eytan Alexander, founder of UK Addiction Treatment Centres (UKAT), who lodged the FOI request, said that the government’s decision to remove the protected drug and alcohol treatment budget, was, without a doubt, a ‘catalyst for disaster.’

Mr Alexander said: “What our FOI requests reveal is that since the Government made the decision to remove the protected drug and alcohol treatment budget, Lancashire County Council has been forced into spinning even more plates with even less money. “

Peter Yarwood, chief executive of Red Rose Recovery, who support recovering drug addicts in areas including Accrington, said: “It’s a very complex issue and any drug-related death is an absolute tragedy.”

Departing East Lancashire coroner Michael Singleton last month warned the number of young people dying from cocaine use has reached ‘epidemic proportion’.

But County Cllr Vivien Taylor, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “Although our spend has reduced, we have one of the largest budgets for these services when compared with other councils in England; so comparison based on actual spend can be misleading, because in percentage terms we have not reduced spend to the same degree as some other councils.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Local authorities are best placed to make choices about services for their community which is why decisions about public health spending sit with them. To help, we are giving them £16bn over the current spending period to deliver these services.”