A senior police officer has praised the Welsh Assembly Government for providing an extra �18m for drug abuse treatment services.

Assembly Finance Minister Edwina Hart announced the three-year package on Thursday in an attempt to narrow the gulf between the escalating number of drug addicts and the tiny number of rehabilitation places.

Finance Minister Edwina Hart will discuss the boost next week

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

But Plaid Cymru had criticised a �3.5m drug rehab package announced during the assembly budget preview last month, saying it was totally inadequate to meet the needs.

That figure will now double, Mrs Hart confirmed.

South Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable David Francis thanked the minister for the initiative.

"The announcement of a substantial increase in funding for treatment services is excellent news for those addicts who are so desperate for such treatment," said Mr Francis.

He also said the boost would be a relief to those families who "suffer so much pain" in trying to support their relatives.

It is a pity it did not happen two years ago and it would have saved my son.

Julie Holland, victim's mother

Julie Holland, from Trealaw, Rhondda, south Wales, lost her son Lee to drugs six months ago.

Mrs Holland said the funding was good news for an area ravaged by drug problems, where the community is facing an estimated one death a week.

"I think it will make a big difference. It is a pity it did not happen two years ago and it would have saved my son.

"He wanted help from Taff Ely Drugs Support and he was told there was a long waiting list."

"With this money they can get counselling and education. It is such a terrible addiction. They just cannot come off the stuff."

Some valleys are blighted by drug-related crime

Rhondda-based anti-drugs campaigner Geoff Gregory said he hoped the waiting list for people seeking help would now start to come down.

"I think the assembly have been rather slow in coming up with the money to deal with this problem. A lot of people have died needlessly.

"But the police also need more help in tackling the dealers.

"A friend of mine in Tonypandy was recently offered drugs within two minutes of entering a pub. They are so easy to get hold of."

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

Major crackdown

The current �3.294m in this year's assembly's drug rehabilitation 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.

The �1m Home Office boost against drugs dealing will be matched by police funds to boost the crime-fighting fund by �2m over the next two years.

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.