THERE has been a significant increase in the number of people contacting Drug Concern. But project manager Tracey Rear said there was no cause for panic over the statistics.

In 2003 there were 593 contacts; this year, up to the end of July, there had already been 524.

Nearly half were in relation to heroin, continuing an upward trend – last year, calls for help connected with the drug doubled compared with 2002.

‘Contacts does not mean different people; it reflects the level of activity,’ she said. Drug Concern has for the last two years helped users who go through the criminal justice system and the increase reflects these people, said Miss Rear.

She added that the rise in activity should not be taken out of proportion. ‘We’re not saying ignore it, but are saying that people weren’t coming forward before. We are busy and there’s a lot more going on; we’re aware of young people using Class As,’ she said. ‘There’s a trend to younger drug users and we’re getting to grips with changing that.’

The rise in the use of Drug Concern’s services means the agency is taking on a new support worker and more new staff could follow.

Miss Rear said the agency needed to think about how it responded to the rise in people coming forward.

‘I think the increase in contacts has got to be a good thing; you can interpret statistics how you want. It’s about not panicking – we’re just stating that we’ve had an increase in activity.’