The drugs inquiry at the Queens Hotel in October 2001. Pictured, from left, are the MPs heading the inquiry, Colin Challen, Harold Best, John Battle, Fabian Hamilton and Paul Truswell. PIC: Dan OxtobyThe drugs inquiry at the Queens Hotel in October 2001. Pictured, from left, are the MPs heading the inquiry, Colin Challen, Harold Best, John Battle, Fabian Hamilton and Paul Truswell. PIC: Dan Oxtoby
The drugs inquiry at the Queens Hotel in October 2001. Pictured, from left, are the MPs heading the inquiry, Colin Challen, Harold Best, John Battle, Fabian Hamilton and Paul Truswell. PIC: Dan Oxtoby

Leeds in October 2001 - 14 stories making the news

It was the month the devastating impact of illicit drugs on lives and communities across Leeds was thrust in the spotlight.

A ground-breaking inquiry was held inside the Queens Hotel with MPs (pictured above), police chiefs and substance abuse co-ordinators having open discussions on how best to tackle a problem which was not only killing hundreds every day but destroying entire communities in the process. This was October 2001, a time which offered a new hope that by bringing together the most high-profile panel ever convened in the city, real inroads can be made in formulating a local and national anti-drugs strategy. Your YEP played its part by running a series of hard-hitting features on the issue. READ MORE: Go inside the Corn Exchange during the 1990s and 2000s LOVE LEEDS? LOVE NOSTALGIA? Join Leeds Retro on facebook

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