AT the age of 15 Michelle Griffin's mother introduced her to heroin.

The schoolgirl tried the drug just once - and was hooked.

Now aged 23 she is desperate to quit the habit she fears will soon kill her.

Pale and gaunt with scabs on her legs from needles Miss Griffin is crying out for help.

She is waiting for a course of treatment from Bolton's Community Drugs Team but, with so many drugs addicts in Bolton now seeking help, Miss Griffin is facing a12 week wait for the "blocker drugs " which she hopes will help wean her off heroin.

But Miss Griffin fears that she cannot last long and without the treatment she wants she is still taking drugs.

A blood clot in her groin has already put her life in danger and she daily attends the Royal Bolton Hospital for injections of a blood-thinning drug which might save her life.

Her Uncle Trevor Williams, is trying to help his niece, desperate not to attend another funeral.

He recently paid more than £500 for her to stay with family in Cyprus to get her away from the drugs.

There Michelle was put in a room to sweat out the drugs and get over the cravings. She was just getting over the worst but it all became too much and she came back to Bolton. She said: "I came home because I was struggling to cope. It was so hot out there and I was stuck in a room 24-7. It's hard lying there while you're in pain. I was constantly sick and feeling ill and it all got too much".

"I came home and went for help. I told them I had managed to go cold turkey for eight days but I was told to go back in 12 weeks."

She added: "I just want some help but there are too many other people like me out there. But I don't want to end up like my mum. I just want some help."

Miss Griffin attended Westhoughton High School, then Deane, then Rivington and Blackrod before her mother said she did not have to go anymore.

She was 15 and had already spent two years in foster care. She tried cannabis "from the men who came to visit my mum" and soon went on to LSD and whizz.

Now a mother of one - she has a nine year-old boy who is in council care - Miss Griffin said: "I used to hold the foil or the spoon for my mum to do heroin as a child and she kept asking me did I want to try it. I kept saying no and managed to say no for six weeks. Then one day I got annoyed with someone and gave it a go. It chilled me out so much I was hooked."

Her mother Sharon died in May aged 42. She was on methadone and trying to get over her addiction. An inquest in to her death will be held later this year.

Since her death her daughter has lived anywhere she can. She spent two nights sleeping on Moor Lane bus station and she has slept on the floors of houses occupied by fellow drug addicts.

To feed her £20 a day heroin habit, she works as a prostitute. That buys an injection morning and night.

She told the Bolton Evening News: "I hate doing it. It knocks me sick but as soon as I've done one job, I go and buy the heroin. Sometimes I only have to have one customer to buy my heroin for the day, rather than two, and that's a good day."

She wants to be prescribed a 'heroin blocker' from the Community Drugs Team (CDT), a tablet that stops heroin having an effect on the body.

But, with Bolton's CDT currently treating 940 drug addicts, the second largest drugs service in Greater Manchester, it is difficult to get hold of the drug when it is needed. The team is now treating 332 more drug addicts than it was two years ago - a rise of 55 per cent. Recent research, carried out by Manchester University, says there are around 2,500 drug addicts on Bolton's streets.

But they say, despite Michelle's 12-week wait, the average time for an appointment being 22 days.

Manager Tony McLeod said: "There is a massive problem in Bolton and we can't get away from that. There is a young population and there are deprived areas and the two have a direct link to drugs.

"Our service has expanded a lot in the last two years and we do a lot of work within the criminal justice system by getting offenders into treatment.

"Demands on the service are high because it is not just about drugs. I'm willing to discuss Michelle's case with her but can't say what service we can provide without knowing her needs."