More than �18m of extra cash has been found to help fight the menace of drugs in Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government has agreed to increase the amount of money set aside for drugs rehabilitation treatment over the next three-years.

Some valleys are blighted by drug-related crime

Information about the additional funds was published on the assembly's website on Thursday, though Finance Minister Edwina Hart was not due to reveal details of the series of increases until next Wednesday.

The current �3.294m in this year's budget will almost double to �6.794m from April 2003.

An additional �6m has been allocated for 2004-5, and �9m in 2005-6.

The extra funds are separate from the existing �12m spent each year by health authorities on drug rehabilitation.

Blighted

Only last week, the Home Office pledged �1m to help halt the flow of drugs into south Wales.

Home Secretary David Blunkett visited some of the worst-hit areas on Friday, and heard tales of communities blighted by heroin and cocaine.

The Westminster boost was announced after Labour politicians lobbied the Home Secretary at the party's conference in Blackpool.

That cash injection will be matched by police funds to boost the crime-fighting fund by �2m over the next two years.

Finance Minister Edwina Hart will discuss the boost next week

It will go directly to Operation Tarian - a major crackdown on the sale of cheap narcotics which is being run jointly by the region's three police forces.

Police chiefs have said the threat from drugs is the biggest danger facing the valleys.

They say communities are being "ripped apart" by hard drugs and associated crime - and could be destroyed completely if heroin and cocaine are not removed.

Some of the cheapest supplies in the UK are said to be flooding in from Bristol and Birmingham - police and politicians want to smash those gangs.

Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for communities, welcomed the latest cash boost as a major contribution to the fight against heroin and other drug abuse.

"At last we will have the resources to cut waiting times for those waiting for treatment and be able to treat significantly more addicts."