Brighton and Hove has been named the drugs death capital of England and Wales for the second time in three years.

Fifty-one people died from drugs in the city in 2003 - almost one a week.

It means Brighton and Hove ranks above larger cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham.

A report published today by the International Centre for Drug Policy shows Brighton and Hove has a drugs death rate of 25.3 per 100,000 of the population over the age of 16.

East and West Sussex had 34 and 22 deaths respectively which worked out as a rate of 8.8 and 3.7, a slight increase on the year before.

However, the figure for Brighton and Hove has fallen by more than a fifth since a peak rate of 32.4 in 2000.

The work being done by the city to cut the number of deaths was praised by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, in his annual report earlier this year.

The drug policy centre, based at St George's Medical School in London, compiled today's study using coroners' reports from 2003.

It found that nationally there has been a notable drop in the annual rate of drug-related deaths from 1,583 in 2002 to 1,487 in 2003, a fall of six per cent.

Most deaths were men under 45 and half died from accidental overdoses, a fall of 13 per cent on the year before.

However, there was an increase in the proportion of deliberate overdoses from 19 per cent in 2002 to 37 per cent in 2003.

Most deaths were caused by heroin, morphine and other opiates but the figure was falling.

The number of deaths related to cocaine stayed around the same.

Amphetamine and ecstasy-related death rates decreased respectively by 14 and 40 per cent.

The nearest rate to Brighton and Hove was East Lancashire at 13.9, Boston and Spalding at 12.1 and Manchester at 11.3.

Centre director professor Hamid Ghodse said: "The findings of this report seem to indicate an overall decrease in drug-related deaths in the UK.

"This is excellent news and could well be the result of both the drug misuse monitoring and prevention initiatives promoted and carried out in the last few years.

"We hope this trend will continue. However, there is the need for further vigilance and constant monitoring of the situation.

"We are particularly impressed with the improvements being made in Brighton and Hove. Their rate has been going down at a good rate for the last few years.

"At this level, even the smallest change means several lives are being saved and that is excellent news."

In Brighton and Hove the number of deaths through heroin was falling but there had been a rise in the number of deaths through a mixture of alcohol and benzodiazepines.

Jenny Bennett is chair of the drug-related deaths steering group, part of the action team responsible for tackling deaths caused by drug and alcohol abuse in Brighton and Hove.

She said: "Clearly we are pleased the number of drug-related deaths has fallen by 22 per cent as a direct result of our efforts to tackle this problem.

"Local figures also show a 23 per cent fall in the number of heroin-related deaths since last year, down from over half of all deaths to a third.

"We are tackling this issue on a number of fronts. The numbers of people going through drug treatment has increased by 12 per cent.

"We provide overdose training for drug users including courses at Lewes Prison, where a new detox wing has opened.

"Substance misuse nurses now work in A&E and we have also worked with GPs and ambulance crews."

About two per cent of the population in Brighton and Hove are believed to be drug addicts who inject, approximately 2,300.