A former drug addict who begged to get money for heroin is calling on people not to give to beggars.

Sarah Browning, a former methadone addict and heroin user who has just kicked her drug habit after ten years, said: "Please do not give money directly to beggars. Give it to a charity which can help them."

Sarah, who moved to Brighton a year ago to get away from her problems, gave her full support to the Argus campaign to put a stop to begging in the area.

We want people to stop giving money to beggars and, instead, channel it into charities and support and information services that can help those who are homeless and most vulnerable.

Sarah, 30, now lives in St James's Street, where she comes face-to-face with beggars every day.

"I was one of those people on the street myself once, but I understand why people find the beggars aggressive and offensive now," she said.

"But when you mix with people in the same circle, you get more and more engrossed in the same thing and it's hard to get out. So if you get given money it helps keep you in that position.

"I have been lucky. My parents have never given up on me and I have a boyfriend now who has helped me more than words can describe. But in the end the only person that can help you is yourself and you can change if you want to. I have done it."

Sarah became addicted to methadone when she was 20. Her boyfriend at the time, who later beat her up regularly, encouraged her to take the heroin substitute.

Her mother, who is a Liberal Democrat councillor, and her stepfather, who is a policeman, battled to help her get off drugs in her home town of Bath.

Once Sarah ended up in a police cell.

She said: "Can you imagine my dad walking into the cell as a police constable and me being there falling asleep in front of his superintendent? But they stuck by me and I cannot tell them how much respect and love I have for them for doing that."

When Sarah arrived in Brighton a year ago she struggled to come off drugs and ended up hanging around with the wrong crowd for a while.

But with the support of the Drugs Dependency Clinic, Brighton Oasis Project for women with current or past drug problems, and her new boyfriend, Darren Hall-Ainsley, she has managed radically to reduce her methadone doses to the point that she hopes to be completely drug-free by Christmas. "It will be the best Christmas present ever," she said.

"But the DDU gave me a lot of help and they put me on to Oasis. These organisations are wonderful, but they need more money and support. People could really help the people they see begging who have alcohol or drugs problems by giving money to these groups."

Sarah, who is currently taking a part-time course in assertiveness training, wants to work with people in prison who are struggling to get out of the vicious circle of crime.

She said she hoped her story would inspire others drug-users to quit their habits.

She said: "People who have been through this kind of thing can really help others and that is what I want to do."