The Home Office programme will be trialled in Bradford, Calderdale, Manchester, Middlesbrough and Newham. The treatment sessions will be part of offenders' three-month action plan orders or a three-year supervision order.
In addition, the first of 10 pilot arrest-referral schemes, aimed at providing 14- to 17-year-old offenders with access to drug testing and treatment, was launched in Southwark last week.
The two-year pilots are also to be run in police custody suites in Bradford, Calderdale, Camden, Hull, Liverpool, Newham, Nottingham, Manchester and Middlesbrough.
The two pilot schemes coincide with last week's announcement in the Queen's Speech of new anti-drugs legislation. If it becomes law, the drugs bill will create a drug-counselling order for young people and introduce tougher penalties for those who deal drugs near schools.
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