A NEW report claims that drug abuse in Bolton is stabilising, with the town being home to an estimated 2,500 addicts.

Bolton Drug Action Team says the explosion of heroin misuse which hit the area in the early 1990s has levelled out and while an estimated 250 people in the area start abusing drugs each year a similar number manage to come off them.

The figures were contained in a document looking at future health improvement in the area which was presented to Bolton Primary Care NHS Trust.

In 2000, there were 761 users in the town seeking treatment for their addiction.

Two thirds of them had previously had treatment but Sandie Nesbitt, of the Bolton Drug Action Team, said it should be regarded as positive that although many of them may have relapsed, they are seeking help again.

"The number of users has remained steady for about the past five years," she said.

Heroin use remains a problem in the area, with 73 per cent of users seeking help for their addiction stating it is the main drug they take.

A staggering 87 per cent of them say they have injected the drug at some time and 75 per cent have shared injecting paraphernalia such as needles and spoons.

The majority of addicts report that they started taking drugs aged under 19 and nearly one in 10 say they were under 15.

It was to help young users that Project 360 was set up two years ago to offer a tailor made treatment service.

"It is still early days yet to say how much of an impact it is making but we are seeing about 120 people a year under 19," said Ms Nesbitt.

"What is encouraging is young people are referring their peers to it."

Lack of facilities for teenagers also prompted the Bolton team and its counterpart in Manchester to press for funding to set up a detox unit specifically for young people.

The unit, based at Prestwich Hospital, opens later this month and teenagers from around Greater Manchester addicted to alcohol or class A drugs, including an estimated two per year from Bolton, will be sent there for a two week residential treatment programme.

Four additional drug workers were appointed in Bolton in January and this means all addicts seeking treatment now have to wait less than an week.

Moves are also being made to increase to 35 per cent the number of GPs in the borough prepared to get involved in treating addicts.

A pilot scheme, whereby pharmacists supervise addicts taking methadone, rather than let them take it home, is to be expanded.

This would help reduce the number of drug related deaths and prevent methadone falling into the hands of other addicts.

But Ms Nesbitt said a main priority for the coming year is a strategy to deal with young people and try and prevent them falling into the drugs trap in the first place.

"We need to find out what works with them. Drugs education in schools is vital but it may not be enough," she added.