Addicts from as far away as Newcastle and York are said to be travelling to Middlesbrough to take advantage of the cut-price narcotics.

Addicts from as far away as Newcastle and York are said to be travelling to Middlesbrough to take advantage of the cut-price narcotics.An investigation by the charity DrugScope revealed that Teesside dealers were selling heroin bags for as little as £5 . . . the cheapest in the country.According to a leading drugs campaigner, there is a drought of cannabis resin, which is imported by the same dealers controlling the crack cocaine and heroin market.With prices so low, and with so little resin reportedly available, it is believed some cannabis users are being tempted to use the harder drug.Tina Williams, of Parents and Addicts Against Narcotics in the Community, said the situation had chilling echoes of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when heroin use spiralled in Teesside, North Tyneside and South Northumberland.Tina, based in Stockton, Teesside, said: "Maybe the drug barons are creating an open market for new drugs coming in. Maybe they want to increase the crack cocaine and heroin market . . . only they would know."But the drug users around Stockton are chasing around for cannabis resin. They can still get herbal skunk cannabis, but because it is a lot more expensive, they get a lot less for a £10 deal than they would for resin."The last thing we need right now, when we are dealing with an increase in crack cocaine and speedballing, is yet another drug coming on the market."According to Tina, the crack cocaine problem is increasing rapidly across Teesside. Yardie drug gangs were targeting the area.At the time, Cleveland Police denied there was a problem, despite confirmation from the Metropolitan Police specialist unit on Yardies.Now, with highlyaddictive crack cocaine firmly established in the region, drug users are increasingly mixing it with heroin to get a better high.The mixture is known as a speedball, and taking it is known as snowballing.DrugScope polled 80 police forces, drug action teams and other specialists from 20 cities across the UK.They found that in Middlesbrough, dealers were increasingly offering cut-price drugs, with heroin costing only £5 a bag, and that in Newcastle and York, the use of speedballs had increased.According to research, those taking speedballs were three times as likely to have convictions as those who only took heroin
The study, by Dr Russell Newcombe, of Manchester University, also found that the average speedballer spent £500 a week on drugs - or £26,000 a year - compared with £110 for heroin addicts.Addicts say the combined effects of the drugs, one being a stimulant and the other a depressant, complement each other.However, it can be lethal. High- profile deaths from speedballing include American actors John Belushi, 33, who died from an overdose in 1983, and River Phoenix, 23, who died outside a Hollywood nightclub.The horrors of heroin were vividly demonstrated by the death of John Courtney, 21, of Walker, Newcastle, in April 2005.His family allowed a picture of John's body, found on the floor of his uncle's flat, to be published as a deterrent to potential users.Harry Shapiro, spokesman for Drugscope, said: "If cannabis is in short supply, the likelihood of a drug dealer turning away money is not that big and they would be pleased if their customers were willing to try other products that they sell, such as heroin or crack."Although the majority of cannabis smokers would not go anywhere near either of those two drugs, there will always be some who will be willing to try it.
"One of our concerns about speedballing is that if you are injecting crack into yourself you have to do it a lot more frequently than with heroin alone. This has major health implications for users."Detective Inspector Chris Sharman, Northumbria Police's drug co-ordinator, said: "We proactively tackle the suppliers to enforce the law.
"Crack cocaine is not a significant problem when we consider that our force contains major cities and urban areas."But we are not complacent and are aware that crack is available in certain areas and we are actively working to remove it from our communities.
"We are aware that users will experiment with different drugs. Speedballing is not a new type of drug as it has been here for some time.
"But again, our intelligence does not provide evidence that this is a significant problem for our area."