OPERATION Nimrod, the Lancashire-wide initiative to tackle street-level drug dealers, has resulted in more than 300 people being sentenced to a total of 1,000 years in jail.
The figures, which work out at an average of 3.3 years in jail per person, were revealed as police praised those involved in the operation, which was launched in April 2002.
As a result, police say it has been harder for people to buy drugs.
New statistics, which reveal that the number of people caught using cocaine and heroin has fallen, back up this claim.
Cocaine offenders went from 58 in 2001/02, to 62 in 2002/03 to 36 in 2003/04, while heroin went from 308 in 2001/02, to 538 in 2002/03 to 425 in 2003/04.
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