A CORONER has spoken of the inequality of the drug culture which means that some people live a life of luxury on the proceeds of dealing while the users descend into the gutter.

Michael Singleton warned youngsters contemplating experimenting with heroin that they are stepping onto a slippery slope which can lead to death.

His comments came after an inquest had heard an account of the last few hours in the life of 20-year-old Jason Read, who died as a result of inhaling vomit after injecting himself with heroin.

Jason's body was recovered from a cabin at the old coal yard in King Street, Blackburn.

The final hours of his life were detailed in a statement read out to the inquest from Gareth Allen, who is currently in Preston Prison.

"He paints the most sordid and tawdry picture," said Mr Singleton, who recorded a verdict of misadventure. "The description of the place of death and the manner in which death came about is sad, to say the least, and it is a scourge on our society that there are people who enjoy a magnificent lifestyle by dealing in the misery that afflicts the likes of Jason Read.

"There would appear to be a never-ending list of people who are quite happy to become victims. No doubt this weekend in Blackburn there will be people who experiment for the first time and step onto the slippery slope that Jason Read embarked upon four or five years ago," said Mr Singleton.

"If, arising out of this matter, there is just one young person who thinks twice and is diverted away from a terrible path, then maybe Jason Read will not have lost his life in vain." The inquest heard that Jason, of Oban Drive, Blackburn, was released from Lancaster Farms Young Offenders Institute on April 19 and the following day visited his mother, Alison Hall, in hospital. She said he was not there long and was asking for money which she felt he wanted for drugs.

Gareth Allen said in his statement he had been staying at Blackburn bail hostel and on the Sunday morning Jason had come into his room and asked him to "sort him out," which Allen took to mean give him some heroin. He said he did not have enough but may be able to later on.

Allen had already injected himself with heroin that morning and said that when he left the hostel with Jason he did not know where he was going. Jason took him to two different addresses trying to buy cannabis and they were told to return to the second address later.

They then went into a pub and got some water before going under a nearby railway bridge.

"Jason put the water in the works and I put the powder in," said the statement. "I then injected half into myself, removed it and cleaned the needle and handed it to Jason who injected himself."

The two men then returned to the second house where there was a man, a woman and a child.

The man took them into the kitchen and put a block in the microwave.

After heating it cut a piece off which he sold to Jason for £5.

They then went to a caravan and smoked a "few joints."

"I think we headed back into town but I can't be sure because I was out of it.

"We carried on walking, more like stumbling, and Jason was taking the mickey out of me.

"I don't remember anything after that."

A post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death as inhalation of vomit caused by morphine abuse.