NEW powers for police to monitor and search nightclubs are planned by Tony Blair in a sharp crackdown on drugs. He is also to reappoint Keith Hellawell as his "drug tsar".

Legislation to be unveiled in the Queen's speech this autumn will tighten the rules on confiscation of assets that may have been bought with drug money.

Anybody convicted of drug trafficking also faces automatic confiscation of their passport to prevent flight before they are sentenced and to curb the movement of international traffickers. Treatment will be made compulsory for addicts convicted of a criminal offence.

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