FIRST AID training is being given to the families and friends of drug users in a bid to reduce the number of deaths, it was revealed today.

The move has been introduced by drug action teams in East Lancashire after figures released last month showed people in the region are more likely to die from drug abuse than those in Britain's tough inner cities.

Research by the International Centre for Drug Policy found 25 people in East Lancashire died through substance misuse in 2003 - the second worst rate in the country.

A first aid scheme was introduced in Scotland earlier this year following the deaths of more than 300 people from drug abuse north of the border in 2003.

Now first aid training has been held in Blackburn with trainers from Greater Manchester Ambulance Service, but clients have included families of drug users from across East Lancashire.

John Smith, health education officer at Jarman House, Blackburn, part of Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, said: "The first aid training is a fairly low cost and basic intervention but one that can have a real impact on trying to reduce drug deaths. It is just one of the ways we are trying to tackle the problem."

Lancashire's drug action team co-ordinator Chief Inspector Andrew Pratt (pictured) said a lot of work had been done to cut the number of fatalities since the figures were collected.

There were 13.9 deaths per 100,000 people over 16 in East Lancashire last year. Brighton and Hove topped the table with 25.3 deaths per 100,000.

The figures are measured as a percentage of the population and so rural areas have come out with worse death rates than the cities.

There were 37 deaths in Manchester but that only equates to 11.3 deaths per 100,000.

Overall the number of drug deaths in England and Wales has fallen by six per cent to 1,487.

Most were males under the age of 45 and heroin, morphine, methadone and other opiates caused 74 per cent of deaths.

Chief Insp Pratt said a scheme to get organisations working with drug users to work together to make sure addicts do not fall through the net and a project helping people leaving prison had halved the number of deaths in East Lancashire this year.

FIRST AID training is being given to the families and friends of drug users in a bid to reduce the number of deaths, it was revealed today.

The move has been introduced by drug action teams in East Lancashire after figures released last month showed people in the region are more likely to die from drug abuse than those in Britain's tough inner cities.

Research by the International Centre for Drug Policy found 25 people in East Lancashire died through substance misuse in 2003 - the second worst rate in the country.

A first aid scheme was introduced in Scotland earlier this year following the deaths of more than 300 people from drug abuse north of the border in 2003.

Now first aid training has been held in Blackburn with trainers from Greater Manchester Ambulance Service, but clients have included families of drug users from across East Lancashire.

John Smith, health education officer at Jarman House, Blackburn, part of Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, said: "The first aid training is a fairly low cost and basic intervention but one that can have a real impact on trying to reduce drug deaths.

"It is just one of the ways we are trying to tackle the problem."

Lancashire's drug action team co-ordinator Chief Inspector Andrew Pratt (pictured) said a lot of work had been done to cut the number of fatalities since the figures were collected.

There were 13.9 deaths per 100,000 people over 16 in East Lancashire last year. Brighton and Hove topped the table with 25.3 deaths per 100,000.

The figures are measured as a percentage of the population and so rural areas have come out with worse death rates than the cities.

There were 37 deaths in Manchester but that only equates to 11.3 deaths per 100,000.

Overall the number of drug deaths in England and Wales has fallen by six per cent to 1,487.

Most were males under the age of 45 and heroin, morphine, methadone and other opiates caused 74 per cent of deaths.

Chief Insp Pratt said a scheme to get organisations working with drug users to work together to make sure addicts do not fall through the net and a project helping people leaving prison had halved the number of deaths in East Lancashire this year.