A DRUGS counsellor today warned that Weymouth will be plagued by junkies if a lifeline support centre is axed.

Anne Cafer predicts the resort's crime rate will soar if a funding crisis forces Clean Connections to close its doors for six months from September 30.

She said residents would suffer more theft and violence as addicts and alcoholics relapsed and turned to crime to feed their habits.

Former heroin addict Joanne Needham today spoke out to back her plea, and said Clean Connections had saved her from a life of junkie hell.

Now Clean Connections project leader Mrs Cafer is asking breweries to help fund the St Thomas Street centre, which has struggled to pay running costs of £50,000 a year since a National Lottery grant dried up.

Mrs Cafer, 48, from Weymouth, said: "It is a fact of life we have lots of addicts in Weymouth and if Clean Connections closes they will run rampage through this town. I believe people will relapse without the service and that will lead to an even bigger drugs problem.

"I am writing to the breweries, hoteliers and health authorities to ask them for donations, because if we help the junkies to get clean they will not smash up pubs or steal from shops."

Dorset County Council is inviting agencies to submit tenders for the service but counsellors fear the family atmosphere of trust and care will be swamped in regulations and bureaucracy if Clean Connections changes hands.

Mrs Cafer and co-worker Alfie Vanderplank boast a good recovery rate for people who have failed treatments and programmes in the past, with many going on to become addictions supporters or counsellors themselves. Mrs Cafer said: "If I manage to keep them coming back to me for the first month, their chances of long-term recovery are massive.

"So if I am keeping one person out of prison for even six months, that saves taxpayers so much money."

Her plea was backed by former heroin addict Miss Needham, who spoke out after the Dorset Echo revealed how recovering alcoholic Andy Logan is also campaigning to save Clean Connections.

Now a full-time mum to 13-month-old Nakeesha, Miss Needham has been clean and sober for five years. She too fears that drug users will be unable to cope if the Clean Connections out-of-hours service is lost.

Miss Needham, 31, of Old Parish Lane in Weymouth, started taking heroin after she lost a baby and her best friend died in a car crash.

She was addicted for seven years and was so out of control that her father was forced to get a court order to keep her out of the house after she attacked him with a garden rake and stole his jewellery.

Miss Needham told the Echo: "It will be devastating if Clean Connections closes, there is nowhere else to go for out-of-hours help. People come in with nothing and they leave clean, to start their own businesses or get a flat of their own.

"It's not just about getting clean, but staying clean. I still need that place when I find it hard to cope with things. There is amazing support, if you need to offload or be around other people in recovery."

Joanne told how she would sit in a graveyard and inject painkillers into her groin or climb into people's cars at junctions. She said: "It was scary. I could have died or killed someone and not know about it.

"After seven years I had enough. I ended up in hospital with heart problems but I was still shooting up in the toilets.

"I look back and think what a waste, but Clean Connections helped me get my life back.

"It is not wasted money, it saves lives and it has been a big part of saving me."

Clean Connections is a free service that reaches out to around 200 people across Dorset.

Members cook a communal meal every night, sit and chat and are able to use computers and the Internet for college coursework.

If you can help in any way with funding, Give Clean Connections a call on 01305 768900.