Andy Cole will promote the anti-drugs message

The Home Secretary dismissed as nonsense suggestions the policy could encourage vigilantes.

That claim was dismissed too by Cabinet Office Minister Ian McCartney, whose son died of a drugs overdose in 1999.

He said project's aim was to stamp out what he called the only current vigilantes - drug dealers.

He accused them of "peddling death and injury and making a profit out of our children."

Admitting that announcing the measures was for him a "bitter-sweet" experience, he said: "For me, it's almost saying if only, if only."

He said losing a child through drugs was especially difficult to cope with.

"It is not just a loss of their life, it is a loss of their life to come, the loss of a vibrant young person killed by a drug dealer."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes gave a cautious welcome to the government's initiative.

He said: "Unless the big fish are caught and stopped the drugs supply will keep on returning.

"The priorities should be education and treatment for the small-time users and law enforcement and punishment for the big-time criminals."

Crime targets

Earlier this year, drugs tsar Keith Hellawell announced that every council in the country would appoint its own anti-drugs chief to tackle local problems.

Reducing drug abuse is essential if the government is to achieve its targets on cutting crime.

The cost of crime carried out to fund drug habits is put at �2.5bn a year.

Home Office research shows 70% of suspects arrested in pilot areas tested positive for at least one drug.