More city drug users getting help

The number of drug users in Leeds receiving treatment has increased, the city council has said.

Figures issued by the Safer Leeds Treatment and Recovery Service show 3,242 people were treated in the 12 months to May 2009.

The council said this was an increase of 10% compared with the previous year.

It said the rise followed the creation of more drug service treatment centres in the city and improvements in the way they worked with each other.

The figures represent the number of people starting treatment, those have been seen for 12 weeks or more and people who have been successfully discharged.

The council said the majority of those seen were heroin or crack cocaine users.

The figures have been released to coincide with a seminar on drug treatment which is taking place in Leeds on Monday.