slowly gaining ground and taking back their neighbourhoods.

Drug users and dealers are no longer congregating in large groups and carrying out business openly, the heads of three local anti-drug groups said.

And as a result neighbourhoods were safer and cleaner.

But the representatives of Warwick Residents Against Drugs (WARCAG), Fiswell's Hill United, and Sandys Against Drugs (SAD) insisted they were not naive.

Drugs were still in their community, they stressed. And they would continue their fight to rid their neighbourhoods of them.

Representatives of Ord Road-Spice Hill Against Drugs (ORSHAD) could not be reached for comment.

"About a year ago we had a march from one end of Friswell's Hill to the other and we converged in the middle where most of the drug activity was taking place,'' vice president of Friswell's Hill United, Mr. Ted Darrell recalled.

"For a month after that there was no drug activity in the area. I guess it still goes on, but it is not as open as it was before.'' Mr. Darrell said by supporting one another, neighbours showed drug dealers that they were more powerful.

"Before everybody saw the problem when they passed and handled it individually,'' he said. "But now they know they have other people behind them.'' Mr. Darrell said while the group had not held any follow-up meetings to gauge the situation, there were no "real community problems'' facing the area.

SAD's Mr. Gladywn Woods said: "So far I think it is working. The overall crowd that was there has broken down to a minimum. The guys are not hanging around as long as they did before.

"It's not like what it used to be. The fellows are selling other things like fish, rather than drugs. And they are not there all day. When the sun goes down, they are out of there.'' Mr. Woods said SAD still constantly monitored and visited what used to be the area's biggest trouble spot -- the Royal Naval Field.

"There are no longer litter problems,'' he said. "The fellows are quite organised and usually put their trash in the garbage cans. It has been successful.'' He said SAD's focus now was "getting folks more concerned about what is needed''.

"What we really need is some type of recreational hall with non-drug activities and where the activity is supervised,'' Mr. Woods said. "A place where people can shoot the breeze''.

And he added the unemployed young men in the area "who would jump at any chance to do work'' could also be hired to clean up the beaches and parks in Somerset.

"We have a lot of beaches in the area and with prisoners no longer doing this, I know that these fellows would be more than willing,'' he said.

Chairperson of WARCAG Mrs. Pat Lake agreed that more needed to be done to meet the needs of young people who still hang out in the Middle Road, Warwick area.

Although there had been a reduction in litter in the area and she had not received any adverse comments from parents of children at Warwick Pre-school since a protest about loitering and littering over a year ago, Mrs. Lake said: "It (the area) has been pretty much the same.

"There are three groups in the area -- one by the bowling alley, one by Crockwell's Restaurant, and one by the rubber tree. I'm not saying all of them are on drugs.

"What we really need is to get in the middle of these young people and see where they're coming from because some are coming from broken homes and have no-one to reach out to.'' Mrs. Lake noted WARCAG was scheduled to meet last night for a progress report on the area.

WARCAG, which has about 15 active members, could use more support, she added.

"There are quite a number of others in the background who we call on for one reason or another. But it would help if more people got involved.''