Doctors, drug treatment workers and chemists are to be allowed to give drug-taking equipment to addicts for the first time.

The Home Office is to change the law in a bid to prevent disease and infection.

At present, it is illegal to supply items such as filters, sterile water and swabs.

From next month, drug and health care workers will be able to supply them to drug users to help them avoid health risks such as dissolving drugs in dirty water or injecting traces of dirt.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust (PCT) said: "This is a good decision. It will help limit the spread of infections transmitted through drug use, such as hepatitis and HIV.

"It will also allow drug workers to carry out their jobs without fear of breaking the law."

Home Office Minister Caroline Flint said: "Our top priority is to get drug users off the drugs that cause so much harm to themselves and our communities.

"But we need to be realistic that, for some drug users, that will not happen overnight, and we need to help them reduce the amount of harm they do to themselves and others.

"Providing these items is currently illegal. We know that treatment workers and doctors have been making sensible decisions to provide equipment anyway but faced the risk of prosecution. We have decided to change the law to help reduce the health risks to drug users."

The change has been recommended by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which advises Government ministers on the measures to be taken for preventing the misuse of drugs or for dealing with the social problems connected with their misuse.

Early findings in a study on the city being carried out by Imperial College, London, show there are about 2,300 injecting adult drug users in Brighton and Hove although health bosses believe the figure could be higher.

The PCT spends about £3.1 million a year on drugs services and has 100 front-line staff such as nurses, social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, counsellors and drug workers working with users.

Brighton and Hove has been selected as a national pilot site for crack cocaine treatment and the National Treatment Agency has rated the city's action plan as excellent.

The change in the law will work in conjunction with other developments in the city aimed at reducing the number of addicts.

This includes a new service dedicated to supporting young people with drug and alcohol problems by providing medical health, counselling and advice.

Police are also continuously targeting dealers.