WORRIED friends and families are continuing to call a helpline following the launch of a major drugs campaign.

Staff manning a help and information line publicised as part of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Drive Out Drugs Campaign are receiving a steady stream of calls each day.

Keith Owen, who is co-ordinating the line, set up by East Lancashire Drug Service and run by the Solvent Abuse Resource Group, said: "We're getting around five or six calls a day mainly from relatives and friends who suspect people they know are using drugs.

"They mostly want information on a wide range of substances and want to know what effects they have. "There is no particular drug that people are calling about, it's widespread.

"What we have not had is a great deal of users phoning us.

"The line is open to anyone who needs advice and information."

A separate 'Help Bust a Dealer' hotline has already provided police with information on suspected pushers.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph joined forces with police and health experts to launch the campaign, which has been backed by Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw and Lancashire's Chief Constable Pauline Clare.

We decided to act amid rising concern about heroin abuse in the area after local coroners expressed fear about the number of drugs-related deaths in Lancashire.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.