"ALCATRAZ OF THE NORTH" TO OFFER HOPE TO DRUG ADDICTS, ALCOHOLICS

LONDON, Sunday: A World War I anti-aircraft fort known as the "Alcatraz of
the North" is to become Europe's largest recovery centre for drug addicts
and alcoholics.

Standing at the mouth of the Humber estuary, between Hull and Grimsby,
England, Bull Sands Fort was built in 1915 to bolster shore defences.
Its developers hope it will be a place to bolster addicts' resolve to
kick the hard drug habit.

Clients will stay at the fort for 30 days, going through the
traditional 12-step recovery program established by Alcoholics
Anonymous. They may then go to rehabilitation clinics and further
counselling.

There will be space for 160 patients and a team of doctors,
counsellors, psychiatrists and psychologists.

The 1 million pounds sterling ($A2.56 million) project recently
received planning permission from East Riding of Yorkshire Council,
and engineers are already drawing plans for a dramatic conversion.

"This will be for people who have tried other methods and failed to
get rid of their addiction. It will be the end of the line," a trustee
of drugs charity Streetwise which has bought the fort freehold, Philip
Ball, said.

"A lot of shore-based clinics are very good but one thing they can't
provide is a secure environment. There will often be a pub round the
corner. That's not the case here. This is a retreat. It will be like
going to a monastery."

Visiting the fort, about 5km off Cleethorpes, is like entering a
futuristic, almost nightmarish ghost ship. The only way to get there
is by fishing boat or in the Cleethorpes lifeboat.

From a distance, the fort resembles a giant tank stranded by the high
tide; it is 300m high, built over four storeys, and planned like a
vast drum with reinforced concrete. It weighs 40,000 tons.

Inside, it is dank and unwelcoming. Floors are caked in four inches of
bird droppings; railings rattle in the wind, and pigeons flap at the
unexpected visitors.

It is easy to see how the World War I gunners lived, for their
kitchens are still recognisable and their metal spring beds are lined
up in the old living quarters, littered with droppings and feathers.
In what was the boiler room, a previous inhabitant has left a novel
behind: The Secret Sanctuary.

A bell tolls on top of the fort's highest mast.

At high tide, the Humber bubbles and swirls 3m deep around the base of
the fort. Addicts will be taken to and from the fort by a trawler boat
or tug, and a helipad will cater for emergency cases and to enable
"celebrity" addicts to visit the clinic at short notice.

"It will not be easy to get off," Mr Bull said, referring to the fort.
"With the tides, it will take 24 hours and any counsellor worth his
salt should be able to persuade someone to change their mind within
that time. Addiction can take a terrible grip, so it can require an
equally strong solution."

Streetwise wants the centre to offer immediate assistance. "You can
wait four years with some local authorities just to get an assessment
for treatment.

"That's not a lot of good," Mr Ball, whose son died at the age of 21
from heroin addiction, said. The centre is to be named the Stephen
Ball Alcohol and Narcotic Detox Sanctuary.

Nearby Grimsby is a town all too familiar with the problems that drugs
can bring. The recent count of young deaths from drugs was three times
the national average.