Former addicts have been helping to find ways to reduce the city's drug death toll by 20 per cent at a conference in Brighton and Hove.

Latest figures show drug deaths have replaced road accidents as the biggest killer of young men. In Brighton and Hove, 55 were recorded by the city coroner in 2002.

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) held the conference at the Thistle Hotel in conjunction with Brighton and Hove Drug and Alcohol Action Team.

The principle topic was overdosing, how to recognise it and how to deal with it.

Graham Stevens, co-ordinator of the Drug and Alcohol Action Team, which is based at the city council, said he could not explain why there was a higher percentage of drug deaths in Brighton.

He added: "We do have a large injecting base in the city but we also have a conscientious coroner who diligently records drugs-related deaths.

"Things are improving and in 2003 we had 454 people in treatment services in Brighton and Hove."

Sue Barrow, deputy manager of the South-East NTA said as many as 45 per cent of people refused hospital treatment after overdosing.

She said: "There are still GPs who refuse to take on drug users as patients. They are a specialist group with specialist needs and sometimes they are difficult to work with."