SOUTH Dorset MP Jim Knight has called on Tony Blair to tackle drugs-related crime and antisocial behaviour more effectively.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Knight said that although crime-busting measures such as drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs), referral orders and the youth offending team had been successful, anti-social behaviour was still a problem on Portland.

He urged the Prime Minister to cut the bureaucracy and costs associated with the implementation of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) and asked if Mr Blair was confident that local authorities and the police had the necessary tools to deal with the problem.

Tony Blair replied that DTTOs, which force drug addicted repeat offenders to choose between prison or treatment, had been very successful.

But he added: "We need to start to extend the concept so that we make sure that where people who are drug addicts are charged with offences and have a criminal record, they also, if possible, receive drug treatment. Otherwise they will be back out on the streets committing the same types of offences."

On antisocial behaviour orders, the Prime Minister said that they had been successful where they had been applied, but the Government needed to ensure that this was done more widely.

Mr Knight said: "I was pleased with the Prime Minister's response and encouraged to hear that the Home Secretary is in the process of making sure that we slim down the bureaucracy associated with antisocial behaviour orders."

The MP said that he had been particularly impressed by two crime-reducing schemes in Dorset. He praised the work that the Dorset Youth Offending Team was doing with 10 to 18-year-olds, citing it as a good model for dealing with all forms of anti-social behaviour.

He also singled out Charis House, a Weymouth-based scheme run by the Bruised Reed Trust providing accommodation for those trying to combat drug and alcohol addiction.

Mr Knight said: "I was impressed by the positive attitudes voiced by Charis's residents and particularly so by their recommendation of the DTTO as an opportunity for change."