An average of eight Keighley heroin users a week are being brought back from the brink of death by paramedics.

The ambulance crews, called by anxious friends of the drug addicts, fight to get the patients breathing again following overdoses. Some of the users, who are as young as 14, have had to be resuscitated on several separate occasions.

One young woman is believed to have stopped breathing 12 times and other 'regulars' are known to the ambulance service.

Chris Croden, a field-based ambulance trainer in Keighley, says the problem has grown significantly in the town over the past 12 months. He says: "I had three cases in three days in January. They used to be 19 or 20s, but now we're getting 14 and 15-year-olds."

Mr Croden says it is not just the paramedics' increasing expertise that is stopping the death toll rising as dramatically as the call-out rate.

Drugs advice agencies such as Keighley's Project 6 are teaching users safety precautions such as first aid and only taking drugs while with a friend.

Mr Croden says that when crews arrive they often find these friends giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Heroin slows a user's respiratory system, eventually stopping it, but oxygen can be pumped around for several more minutes.

Mr Croden says one problem for ambulance crews is that after they ventilate the user, he or she soon comes round.

"They come up aggressive and have a go," he says.

Mr Croden believes the problem has been made worse by the falling price of heroin and availability of high-quality merchandise.

He says: "If they're off it for a while, or it's stronger, or they take more than they're used to, they may stop breathing.

"The percentage that die are very low. The most dangerous ones are those who take drugs alone."

Project 6 manager Ann Flanagan believes the biggest factor in the increase in overdoses is that more people are injecting rather than smoking heroin.

She adds: "If there's a gap of a couple of days their tolerance drops dramatically. People are much younger so they might not have a regular supply.

"Alternatively they might be trying to stop, or have been in custody, or can't afford to use regularly."

Ann says users have learned they can trust ambulance and hospital staff not to pass on their names to the police. "They've been treated well and the word is getting round," she adds.

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