Brighton and Hove has been named Britain's drugs death capital for the second year in a row.

Fifty people died in the city as a result of drugs in 2009, an average of almost one a week and an 11% increase on the previous year.

A report by the International Centre for Drug Policy gives Brighton and Hove a death rate of 23.6 per 100,000 people over 16.

This is higher than the 21.2 recorded in 2008, when 45 people died.

It is the seventh time in nine years the city has been given the unwanted crown, ranking it higher than parts of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.

Tom Scanlon, the city’s director of public health said: “This is very disappointing and sad."

Read the full story in today's Argus.