POLICE today claimed they could lose the battle to keep some youngsters off drugs after accusing a town centre shop of promoting cannabis.

But council bosses fear they are powerless to stop the transformation of the business, which had previously been a sex shop operating without a licence.

Until this month, the Pirate Shop, in Darwen Street, Blackburn, had been giving licensing officials cause for concern because they believed more than half of its stock was of a sexual nature, meaning it was breaking the law by not having a licence.

Now the owners of the shop, whose identity still remains unclear, have transformed the front of their boarded up shop so that the windows are painted yellow and plastered with a giant marijuana leaf.

Inside, alongside the sex items, a range of equipment is on sale to aid smoking, including pipes and glass 'bongs.'

Headshop is the name given to such shops by drug-users because they sell the equipment which enables people to take drugs which relax their mind.

A member of staff inside the shop, given permission to talk to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph by his boss, said: "Lots of shops do this and the council weren't happy about what we did before, even though we were doing nothing wrong, so we have changed.

"Let's see how they like having a headshop instead! They are very popular, and we are going to specialise more in bongs and other stuff."

There is no suggestion the shop is actually selling cannabis, which is still illegal, although its status as a classified drug is being reviewed by the Government.

Chief Inspector Andy Pratt, who has been appointed Blackburn's drugs action team co-ordinator, today said: "It is very disappointing that we have a shop like this right in the town centre but selling smoking pipes is not illegal. It makes our job of trying to educate people about drugs much harder, especially if young people see this shop in the town centre and think is normal.

"It is proven fact that people who progress on to hard drugs often experiment with cannabis first. People seem to think cannabis is legal now. It isn't and shouldn't be promoted as if it is.

"This shop is saying that cannabis in acceptable when in fact it is not legal."

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We are spending a lot of money regenerating Darwen Street to make it a better shopping experience and to have a shop like this in such a prominent location is very bad news."

Licensing officials have repeatedly tried to get the shop closed down and make the owners apply for a licence. The problem has been that they can't find the owners.

A sex shop directly opposite the new cannabis shop does pay £4,000 a year for a licence.