A BLACKBURN drug worker has been nominated for a top award for his groundbreaking work in Asian communities.

Hasan Sidat, 37, initially joined the Lancashire Council of Mosques as a drug worker more than four years ago, after wanting a change from his job as a machinist.

Since then, a part-time six-month contract has become a permanent full time job and his pioneering approach to tackling substance abuse has led him to being shortlisted for the Home Office's Tackling Drugs Changing LIves Awards.

The awards honour people who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to get others off drugs.

Hasan said: "I decided I wanted to do something different, and saw this post advertised, and I thought, Why not?', because I wanted to do something to help the community. I received training, and then it went from there really."

Thanks to Hasan, who lives in Little Harwood with wife Mariam and three children, Blackbur- n's mosques were the first in the country to adopt a drugs policy.

And his work on a project done in partnership with the Blackburn Drug Action Team is helping raise awareness about drug abuse in Asian communities, and chall-enge long-standing myths.

"Before, most Asian people didn't know where to go or what to do if they knew someone using drugs, so it was brushed under the carpet," said Hasan.

"Whilst I can't work miracles, I am somebody who they can come and ask, and I can then direct them to different agencies for help.

"Convincing the mosques to adopt a drugs policy was a challenge, and took about a year, but it was worth it. We've now trained more than 25 Imams and thousands of parents and children to help them recognise and deal with drugs issues."

Hasan's innovative approach to tackling drugs has seen him pioneer a way of working that has now been successfully adopted by drugs teams across the UK.

He was nominated for the award by Mahmood Chandia, who is the executive director of Lancashire Council of Mosques, who said: "Hasan has been responsible for a seismic shift in the mindset of Blackburn and Darwen's Asian comm-unities towards substance abuse.

"He has been absolutely pivotal in taking them from a state of denial to one of acknowledgement and action. That is why he has been put forward for this award."

Judges are now selecting the North West nominees who will go on to represent the region in the national Tackling Drugs Changing Lives Awards in December.