Operation Crackdown - a three-month campaign by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office has seen police close more than 170 crack houses, take over £13.4 million of drugs off the streets, arrest more than 3,400 class A drug suppliers, and seize cash assets totalling more than £3,000,000.

In Brighton & Hove alone 19 people were arrested for class A drug related offences. And a total of 390 grammes of cocaine, 8,417 grammes of crack cocaine, 5,891 grammes of heroin, 226 grammes of amphetamine, 378 grammes of canabis and 28 ecstacy tablets were confiscated.

So where will all the drug addicts go for supplies when their source dries up? In Brighton & Hove a dedicated team of people is working to help these people to live without drugs.

As part of a separate project to reduce shoplifting Brighton & Hove Drug & Alcohol Action team (DAAT) and the Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) have together helped the 20 most prolific shoplifters (most of whom are substance abusers stealing to fuel their habit) to change their life on the streets of Brighton & Hove. These people have been given help to come off drugs and build new lives saving city businesses £600,000 a year and a great deal of stress for the employees in the retail sector (see previous story in Knowledgebase).