Nine months clean, Clare is living proof there is life after drugs. The 32-year-old mum clapped louder than most yesterday when Fergus Ewing unveiled his drugs strategy to professionals in Edinburgh.

"It is really exciting," she said. "It means a lot more people are going to be able to go on their own journey to recovery." Clare's journey was not easy. Late last year she graduated from Leap, an abstinence-based rehabilitation programme.

Just three months before she was injecting heroin in her neck. Now she is clearly healthy and happy - and ready to let Mr Ewing know her mind. "I told him it was high time Edinburgh, capital of Aids, capital of heroin, had more rehab," she said yesterday. Clare was not the only person warmly welcoming the strategy in the drugs community. For years, experts argued over whether authorities should focus on managing the problem, putting heroin addicts on methadone, or fixing it by getting people off drugs.

That argument is now over, said Tom Wood, who retires today as chairman of the Scottish Association of Alcohol and Drug Action Teams.

Mr Wood, a former senior police officer, said: "The new strategy marks a very positive change in direction towards recovery and away from the old war rhetoric and sterile debate. We know recovery from addiction is achievable but it will only succeed if treatment is delivered properly and comprehensively. All services and service users will need to pull together."

There is still a role for methadone: addicts still need to be stabilized before treatment. Mr Wood, however, stressed addicts such as Clare have not been given the soft option. "Going to jail is much easier than treatment," he said yesterday.