Dealing with the drugs in Weston

An unidentified smoker smoking a large roll-up cigarette

A Government minister has promised a crackdown on the system that has allowed thousands of drug users to flood into Weston-super-Mare seeking help for their addictions.

The pledge marks a breakthrough in a five-year campaign by the town's Conservative MP John Penrose.

Health Minister, Labour MP Gillian Merron, has written to Mr Penrose to say there will be "proper care planning [to]ensure nobody in drug treatment simply falls off the radar".

She promised to make the issue for the seaside town a "priority".

Mr Penrose told BBC Bristol he wants tougher controls on the way rehab centres in the resort are run.

"With an awful lot of pushing and prodding, and an awful lot of help from the local police and the council, they are starting to get a grip on it," Mr Penrose said.

"They haven't got quite final figures, but they're bringing more an more of them into the net and starting to inspect them.

'Big step'

"That means that some of the dodgier ones are starting to feel the heat and a number of them - I am pleased to say - have closed down or been forced to clean up.

"That, of course, is a big step for Weston, even if it's only a first step."

Elaine, 50, a recovering alcoholic, is currently at Sefton Park, one of the town's residential homes.

She came to the centre from Lincolnshire and says that without proper help she could easily still be drinking.

"I came here purely and simply because of the treatment it offered," she said.

"The treatment that I've received here has been excellent; it's helped me look at my thinking and behaviour."

I never knew who Elaine was before I came here Elaine, recovering alcoholic

At her worst, Elaine was drinking between six and eight bottles of white wine a day but has now been sober for five months.

"I'm learning to cope with my thoughts and feelings without resorting to a drink," she said.

"Every day that goes by I just get more positive. You have you're negative days but you cope with them, they're the learning days.

"I never knew who Elaine was before I came here and that's the truth," she added.

"The Elaine that I'm now being encouraged to become is somebody that I never imagined I could ever be."