WE are delighted that sporting stars from across East Lancashire have joined the Lancashire Evening Telegraph campaign against drug addiction and dealers.

Players from Blackburn Rovers and Burnley FC and motor cycle race aces, idolised by thousands of young people, have given us their full backing.

We say: Welcome aboard.

They have the ears of the age groups most likely to be sucked into the evil drugs scene, a sickening trend which has become a cancer within our society and one which is responsible for a large amount of today's crime as well as wrecking thousands of lives.

It is a fact of life that youngsters who follow every move of their sporting heroes will take more notice of advice on the evils of drugs from the likes of Colin Hendry, David Eyres, Carl Fogarty and Neil Hodgson than they will from a whole phalanx of police officers, social workers, medics and newspapers.

The support of these high-profile sportsmen is both welcome and heartening.

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