DRUG dealers are the scourge of society. They sell death and misery at a premium price. These earnings afford them a comfortable lifestyle while the addicts lose everything.

But now City of York Council have resolved to make the dealers' lives that bit more difficult.

The council has ruled that convicted drug dealers will not be rehoused by them for three years after serving their sentences. This will be cheered by all those who know the devastation caused by the drugs trade.

Heroin and crack cocaine enslave users and wreck their lives. But they are not the only victims. Most of the burglaries in this city and elsewhere are prompted by the addicts' desperate need to fund their next fix.

Neighbours of drug dealers are at particular risk of being burgled. They also have to put up with a procession of users in their street at all hours. That is particularly frightening for children and elderly residents.

If the dealers live in a council house, their neighbours will naturally appeal for help from the local authority. York council has demonstrated its resolve to evict nuisance tenants.

This new pledge will ensure that dealers face a second penalty after being dealt with by the courts: no council house.

Too often, our welfare safety net is abused by those who work the system. Dealers have either paid their rent through drug sales, or allowed the State to pick up the bill via housing benefit.

That has left more honest citizens fuming on the housing waiting list. No longer.

The ban on rehousing dealers is the latest excellent example of the council using its powers to fight crime. It has long enjoyed a fruitful partnership with York police through the Safer Cities initiative, which recently backed the Operation Ratcatcher anti-burglary campaign.

Now councillors are offering drug dealers an insight into what it feels like to have your life disrupted beyond endurance. About time too.

Updated: 11:14 Wednesday, January 15, 2003