APPROXIMATELY 70 per cent of crime in Lancashire is driven by drugs, police estimates suggest. Many people would advocate longer prison sentences as a deterrent for addicts stealing to fund their habits. But Crime Reporter IAN SINGLETON hears from recovering addicts and specialists how intensive rehabilitative treatment maybe a better long-term solution. . .

IT is like a food chain. Heroin takes hold of the person who tries the drug. The addict is left unable to work and resorts to crime to fund a desperate need.

Then the victims of burglaries and robberies are left feeling vulnerable, Like all food chains, the animal at the top of the tree is the most feared and powerful.

Many addicts have committed hundreds of crimes and spent long periods in prison, but still re-offend.

Staff at the Those On The Margins of Society (THOMAS) centre in Blackburn feel the core problem is addiction which needs treatment to obliterate the chain. But it is not that straightforward.

From the experiences of over 10 years of helping addicts, THOMAS staff have learned that only the most vigorous, intensive and gruelling course of treatment can defeat drug habits.

Now, in a pioneering link-up with HM Prison Lancaster Castle, they are putting this theory into action to rehabilitate prisoners just released from the jail.

They have drawn up a 24 hours-a-day, 12 week programme of intensive therapy where participants are even banned from seeing family and friends.

Treatment is entirely voluntary and recruits are dropped off at the door of THOMAS's France Street centre by prison staff the day their sentence finishes.

They live in THOMAS accommodation and are helped by group therapy sessions, psychologists and case workers. When the 12 weeks are up, THOMAS staff help them find accommodation, work and even organise enrolment on educational courses to gain qualifications.

Last year, of the 26 people who took the course, only 20 per cent returned to crime and 89 per cent completed the programme. Compared to the Government's rehabilitation programme, these figures are a massive success. The Government imposes Drug Testing Treatment Orders (DTTOs) on those released from jail. They have to take drug tests twice a week and have 20 hours of counselling.

However, only 28 per cent of the 18,400 prisoners released last year finished the programme and, according to an Audit Commission survey, 80 per cent returned to crime.

Father Jim McCartney who runs THOMAS, which won two awards at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph Pride of East Lancashire Awards last November, said: "The DTTOs give them a lot of freedom, which I have serious misgivings about. We take the opposite view.

"The most vulnerable moment is when they are released. One of the problems is people just released face homelessness and that is a breeding ground for re-offending. The hostel environment is rife with drugs."

Pam Fawcett is the criminal justice coordinator for THOMAS. It is her job to go into Lancaster Prison and spread the word about the scheme, then help the volunteers once at THOMAS.

She said: "I look for people who are committed and want to change their lives."

Kevin White, a prison officer drugs worker at Lancaster, said: "I am extremely pleased with how it is working. I have sent 18 lads there and 17 of them have got through and are living in the community and are still clean.

"There is something unique about THOMAS. The governors and the management here are right behind it."

Chief Inspector Andy Pratt, of the Eastern Division police covering Blackburn, said: "The more help, guidance, training opportunities and counselling available, the better. THOMAS is one of a number of options and we are grateful they are in Blackburn."