Some readers may be angry that ten homeless heroin addicts are to be treated at places such as the exclusive Priory Clinic at taxpayers' expense.

Many of them could benefit from the £100,000 this experiment by the Department of Health will cost and it comes at a time when a project in Eastbourne helping street drinkers looks likely to close through lack of cash.

But they may not fully realise the scale of the problems in the city, which are the greatest of anywhere in the country outside London.

More than a million pounds are spent each week by addicts on drugs in Brighton and Hove.

Fourteen addicts have died so far this year. Much of the money to fund addiction comes from crime, which affects thousands of other people.

It is hard enough for any addict to kick their habit. It is almost impossible when they have other problems such as homelessness or mental illness.

What this pioneering project will do is to tackle one problem at a time. The addicts will be given their treatment in pleasant surroundings far removed from the cold and wet streets of Brighton and Hove.

Afterwards, they will be housed in the city with continued help so they can become clean from drugs.

It won't be easy and these people at the bottom need help so they can climb out of the gutter. If this scheme works, even at £10,000 an ex-addict, it will be money well spent.