Heroin 'delivered faster than pizza'

"Drugs are easier to get than fast food"

Youngsters in Luton can now get a fix of heroin delivered faster than a pizza, a community drugs project has warned.

Representatives of the Asian Drugs Information Befriending Outreach Project - or Adibop - told a national conference drugs use was on the rise among Asian communities in the UK.

They also warned that drug dealers were seen by teenagers as role models.

Project manager Sujel Miah said after Wednesday's Cultural Diversity Forum: "Part of our work is to make drugs unfashionable."

Problems denied

His project, which has been running for over three years, centres on the Bury Park area of the Bedfordshire town.

It offers support for drugs users and their families from the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Kashmiri communities.

It also trains other drugs support services in how best to help ethnic minority users.

Mr Miah that although drugs use was no higher among Asian communities than others, cultural issues were important.

"There is a lot of denial that the problem even exists among the Asian community - it's taken a long time to recognise it," said Mr Miah.

"Often the attitude among the community is, 'We'll sort it out ourselves'."

The project is now seeking further funding to employ more drugs workers.