Class A drug addicts released into the community in parts of the West Midlands are going on to commit an average of three offences each in the first year after leaving jail, Home Office figures reveal today.

A report on drug-misusing offenders found that 674 crimes were committed by a sample of 226 known users in Walsall in 2008, while 666 offences were recorded by some 218 in Wolverhampton.

The same average of crimes were carried out by a 173- strong group in Dudley which committed 552 offences.

Across Staffordshire, some 113 addicts went on to carry out 345 offences, while in Worcestershire some 46 drug users committed 147 crimes.

A total of 217 Class A drug addicts released in Sandwell went on to commit an average of two offences each during the same period – a similar rate to the 874 under the spotlight in Birmingham where officials recorded 1,670 fresh offences by the group.

In Shropshire, an average of four crimes were committed by the 52 freed from prison, who went on to commit 227 offences in total.IndividualAcross England and Wales, 20,934 Class A drug-misusing criminals were convicted of a total of 54,462 proven offences.

This equates to a rate of offending of 2.60 offences per individual. The study found that 61 per cent were convicted of at least one offence in the 12 months following release.

A quarter were convicted of either one or two offences, while 16 per cent were convicted of more than five offences.

The social and economic costs of class A drug use are estimated to be around £15.4 billion per year.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: “One of the huge failures of our criminal justice system is the way in which we send drug addicts to prison and completely fail to do anything about their addiction.”

In fact some offenders have told me that it’s easier to get drugs inside prison than outside.

“Unless we deal with this problem we’ll never get to grips with the threat of reoffending.”A Home Office spokeswoman said tackling drug misuse is a key priority for the Government.

She said: “Drug-misusing offenders are among the hardest to reach and most problematic drug users. Tackling their offending and drug misuse is a complex issue which requires continued effort.”

To help reach this group we launched the Drug Intervention Project (DIP) in 2003. Since it began, acquisitive crime – to which drug-related crime makes a substantial contribution – has fallen by 32 per cent.”

CocaineResearch published by the Home Office in November 2007 showed that the overall volume of offending by a group of 7,727 individuals who tested positive in custody for heroin, cocaine or crack cocaine was 26 per cent lower in the six months following contact with the DIP scheme, which offers help through treatment and support.