DRUG treatment needs to be overhauled for East Lancashire to beat the problems of addiction, a leader campaigner has warned.

Father Jim McCartney, chief executive of drug treatment charity Thomas, has called for an end to prescriptions for methadone and other replacement drugs, which he said did nothing to help user beat their addictions.

And he attacked targets in the public sector which he said amounted to "ticking boxes" and left people addicted to prescribed medication, instead of getting to the root cause of problems.

In response, a boss of the Lancashire Drug Action Team, a multi-agency group which co-ordinates drug treatment across the county, said they were planning to expand its services to include more non-medication treatments - although methadone would still be offered as an option to hundreds of addicts.

Blackburn-based THOMAS, which stands for Those On the Margins of A Society, tackles drug use with a 12-week programme of rehabilitation, followed by long-term after care, all without any medication.

Father McCartney said: "I have concerns that in East Lancashire we are keeping too many drug users on prescribed medication, still confining people to a live of addiction.

"Often what you find is that people have a foot in treatment and a foot in crime.

"The clinical concept of drug treatment is too dominant in this area and it needs to be challenged."

The charity is set to open a new rehabilitation unit in Witton, Blackburn, this year, where volunteers will work to change perceptions of drug users and travel around Lancashire with the therapeutic team.

A 38-year-old former heroin addict from Blackburn, who asked not to be identified, went through constant methadone programmes in 20 years of addiction before he began the programme at THOMAS.

He has now been drug-free for three years and works for the charity, offering help and advice to addicts going through rehabilitation.

He said: "The government provides maintenance prescriptions for methadone because as far as they are concerned they help bring down the crime rate and they work, but at the end of the day that stuff is poison and the detox from methadone is worse than coming off heroin, so it just creates a new dependence. "

Susie Renshaw, head of operations at the Lancashire Drug Action Team, said: "We have just completed a new needs assessment and there will be a lot of changes to the service we offer over the next few months.

"Some drug users do still want prescription treatment but there are many other options available, with structured day care, sport and exercise and even aromatherapy to help people find a life beyond drugs.

"It's all about making a wide range of treatments as accessible as possible."