The executive hopes Turnaround will lift addicts out of crime

Repeat male offenders, aged from 16 to 30, will be referred to community programmes in the Turnaround project.

The scheme will open in Ayrshire, Dumbarton, Dumfries and Galloway, Inverclyde and Paisley in the summer.

Ms Jamieson said: "This will be the smart option, not a soft option, and help turn them away from a cycle of crime and custody."

Structured programmes include;

• one-to-one support

• anger management

• relapse prevention and parenting

• and employment and education.

Longer term plans for a 14-bed, short-term residential unit, are also being discussed.

Ms Jamieson said the executive had agreed in principle to fund the pilot project, which would then be subject to a full review.

"The Turnaround programmes will aim to significantly reduce the reoffending rates of the offenders referred to them, to tackle the amount of acquisitive crimes committed to pay for illegal drugs and to reduce the level of drug misuse itself," she said.

Netta Maciver, chief executive of Turning Point Scotland, one of the voluntary groups leading the project, added: "Our experience of working with women, through the 218 service tells us that we can turn lives around.