A radical new treatment for heroin addiction is to undergo its first clinical trial in Scotland, it was announced yesterday.

Neuro-electric therapy - NET - has been billed as a safer, more effective alternative to methadone, the heroin substitute which is both addictive and damaging to health.

The creators of NET believe their detoxification therapy not only reduces withdrawal symptoms but also removes cravings.

The treatment was developed in the 1960s by a Scottish neurosurgeon - the late Dr Meg Patterson, from Aberdeen, and later by her son, Dr Lorne Patterson.

It became famous in the 1970s when rock stars Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend quit heroin with the help of NET.

Since then, the Pattersons have used the treatment to help cure addicts in Mexico, Australia and in Russia, where the field of "bio-electric" medicine is taken more seriously.

In the UK, drug addiction experts, campaigners and politicians have called for NET to be given an official clinical trial, to compare its efficacy to methadone.

But medical authorities have so far been reluctant to provide funding.

Now, in the absence of official support, a preliminary trial of NET has been launched, funded by Third Step, a small Glasgow-based charity which raised £40,000 from charitable donors, including the artist Peter Howson.

Six male and six female addicts who have tried unsuccessfully to come off heroin in other ways will be observed while undergoing the treatment. It involves passing a tiny and harmless electric current into the brain, via a clip attached behind the ear. The aim is to stimulate the brain to release natural painkillers - endorphins - which help the addict get through the initial "cold turkey" phase.

"What we think the treatment is doing is speeding up the body's natural addiction recovery process," says Dr Lorne Patterson. "We believe that NET deserves proper medical scrutiny."

The trial will be observed by leading drugs expert Professor Neil McKeganey and his team from the Centre for Drug Misuse Research at Glasgow University. "I don't know if NET will work, but I do know that it is worth a try," he said.

"The Scottish executive spends £100m a year on drug abuse treatments, but many of these services are not about getting people off drugs.

"Stabilising people's addictions is not enough. We need services which get people drug free. But there are very few of these."

John Mullen of Third Step said: "The politicians we have spoken to have been very helpful. But the funding has never come forth. What are they scared of?"

NET returned to the media spotlight last year in a TV documentary in which addict Barry Phillips, 24, from Kilmarnock, successfully came off heroin using NET, after four years of addiction and four previous failed attempts.

Yesterday Mr Phillips, clean after 11 months, said: "This treatment transformed my life. When I was an addict, I spent £100 a day on my habit."

The publicity about NET persuaded Jack McConnell and Andy Kerr to hold meetings with the Patterson family, at which the ministers are said to have expressed a desire to see NET given a full trial.