TEENAGERS are being treated for heroin addiction in Gwent - after being given the drug by their own parents.

And some children with disturbed backgrounds, as young as 13, have been turning to the drug.

The grim details were revealed by Gwent Healthcare Trust, which says it needs more funding to deal with the problem.

Sally Winterflood, team leader for the trust's young persons' substance misuse service (YPSMS), said: "We are seeing more and more children coming through where parents are users themselves.

"Because heroin is used in the household it becomes acceptable, and the youngsters then become users.

"It is underestimated how severe the problem is in Gwent, and we need more funding allocated in the next financial year to continue our service."

She said there were currently more than 300 drug users - all aged under 25 - being helped in Gwent by the YPSMS.

She said around 75 per cent of those were using heroin, and could be helped with counselling or drug replacement treatments like methadone or Subutex.

She said the majority of users being helped in Newport were aged between 16 and 19.

In other boroughs across Gwent, clients tend to start using heroin from age 18.

Ms Winterflood said there had been a "handful" of 13- to 15-year- olds dealt with in the past.

Ms Winterflood said most of the children who began using heroin from ages below 16 had significant problems in their lives, including sexual and physical abuse.

She said Monmouth-shire held the highest number of clients out of the boroughs in Gwent, as many young people there who could not get hold of cannabis were trying heroin instead.

Ms Winterflood said not all users came from difficult backgrounds and that some young addicts from settled homes be-came hooked on heroin after experimenting with lesser drugs.

She said the YPSMS was operating to capacity, and warned there may soon be a waiting-list for those seeking treatment.

Martin Blakebrough, the chief executive of Newport drug treatment charity Kaleidoscope, said: "Regrettably, people are taking Class A drugs from a very young age.

"Drugs are so embedded in society, with parents and grandparents using them, that children become vulnerable.

"It's not just the case that drug dealers are hanging around school gates as children are being exposed to these drugs at home."

Kaleidoscope has around 200 people on a waiting-list for drug replacement treatment.

Mr Blakebrough said: "We are hoping to open premises in Caerphilly and Tredegar in the next three months, so we will be able to alleviate the waiting- list."

The charity is currently helping 380 people.

Detective Constable Huw Watkins, from the Gwent Police drugs squad, said there were fewer registered heroin users in Monmouthshire than other boroughs in the county.

He said: "Our findings show Monmouthshire has no more of a heroin problem than anywhere else in Gwent."

Anna De Sousa, from Newport-based youth drug treatment charity, Fusion, said some teenagers began smoking heroin, or "chasing the dragon", without realising it was that drug they were using.