THE PARENTS of ecstasy death girl Leah Betts today slammed a scheme which encourages club doorstaff to deal with drug users without calling the police.

The move, which is due to be launched in Blackburn and is already operating in Burnley, has been backed by Blackburn MP Jack Straw and a drugs charity.

As part of the project, termed an amnesty by police, staff will routinely search clubbers as they go in and small amounts of drugs discovered will be put into a disposal safe, which will be emptied regularly by the police.

Clubbers found with small amounts of drugs will not be reported to officers and although they will be refused entry to the club, no further legal action will be taken. Police, who have organised the scheme with the help of clubs, have so far declined to comment on what constitutes a small amount of drugs and which drugs would not prompt police being called.

But Paul Betts, a former Essex police inspector whose teenager daughter Leah died after taking ecstasy at her 18th birthday party in 1995, criticised the move.

Mr Betts, who has visited East Lancashire several times as part of his battle against drugs and is due back in the area in September, said: "The big problem is that when does a small amount, which could be for personal use, become a large amount for supply to others? This just shows the lack of enthusiasm by the police to help young people get off drugs.

"A lot of the problem with drugs is caused by people who have small amounts of the stuff and who act as small-time dealers passing it on to others so it is no good for police to just ignore this."

"It will also place a huge amount of responsibility on to door staff." His wife Janet said from the family's new home near Aberdeen: "In other areas where this has been introduced, in some clubs the bouncers are actually acting as dealers.

"We know some of them are saying to people, 'Hand over what you have or we'll tell the police.' Then they sell the drugs on.

"Nobody seems to have the bottle to say what is a small amount for personal use. Somebody might take 12 e's into a club, and unfortunately it only takes one to kill."

The initiative will be launched at Utopia nightclub in the town centre as part of a wide-ranging drugs strategy in Eastern Division.

Clubbers will only be detained and reported if they try to enter the club with what doorstaff judge to be a large amount of drugs. Police said all searches would be done under the scrutiny of CCTV cameras. Currently police are called in whenever drugs are found.

Blackburn with Darwen Council bosses stressed that all doorstaff are licensed and regulated to avoid any abuse of the system.

It follows the success of a similar scheme in Burnley launched in March at The Works and Chicago Rock Cafe, both in Hammerton Street.

Assistant town centre manager, Ian Stackhouse, said that scheme, which is still running, had been a great success.

Nightclub managers today said there was no reason for concern. General manager of The Works, Tom Maloney, said they supported the initiative because 'drugs were totally unacceptable' in his club.

Manager of Utopia Andrew Keenan said: "We will not tolerate people taking drugs into the club and anything we can do to try to prevent it has got to be a positive step."

The new amnesty was welcomed by the former Home Secretary, Blackburn MP Jack Straw, who said: "This is a very good initiative -- one that is very imaginative.

"I will be monitoring it very carefully with the nightclub and the police."

Keith Owen, manager of Lifeline, a charity working with drug users from its base in Darwen Street, said: "This is good news. It means people can have an enjoyable and safe night out without the risk of being criminalised."

Jim Blackburn, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen's licensing committee, said: "All doormen and women in Blackburn with Darwen have to be licensed by the council so that they are subject to proper regulation and scrutiny.

"If any individual falls below the standard we expect, their licence can be revoked. "

PC Sue Seddon, from Eastern division, said the exact details of the scheme were not yet finalised. She said that it would be several months before it was implemented and a decision had not been taken on whether to include other clubs.

She said: "The search by bouncers will be a condition of entry. If drugs are found they would be ejected and if it was a large amount they would call us."

She added: "This will give people the opportunity to hand over drugs when they go into the club as an amnesty."