A RADICAL ENTREPENEUR

This man works for a local drug-counseling agency. He has been involved with the drug scene for around 10 years. It is his job to talk to and help/advise heroin addicts who are subject to probation orders or are just in need of help.

Are we in the midst of a heroin epidemic?

"Well I wouldn’t say an epidemic, but we are certainly in a time where the number of heroin users has dramatically increased. Of course the police and courts have upped their efforts to catch the addicts and dealers, exposing the problem more than beforehand-when it was cannabis smokers-but the fact that heroin has become more streetwise does mean that the number of people, particularly young people, has increased a lot."

Would you say that there is a heroin infrastructure in this town?

“It all depends on what you mean by infrastructure. If you mean that there is some kind of hierarchical structure then yes there is, but it is fluid. The big dealers at local level are virtually never seen on the street, and so most of the users are in fact small dealers themselves. What it is is that they deal to support their own habits.”

So what is the extent of the problem?

"There has been a definite increase in heroin arrests, and indeed in convictions. If I could highlight the problem in this area, lets look at XXXXXX. (a small town 25-30 miles from XXXXXXX) This town was once an amphetamine town, you know it was the main drug sold and used. Over the past what, 3 or 4 years, heroin has taken over. When something like that happens then you know we’ve got a problem. Going back to the rise in incidents however, I believe that many statistics are manipulated and exist solely because of illegitimisation. Did you know that there are more deaths caused by alcohol yearly, than all other illegal drugs put together?"

WOULD YOU SAY THERE IS A MORAL PANIC?

What do you mean by morals? If you mean is there a panic about heroin being an evil drug that makes people bad then yes I think there is. You see people don’t really know a lot about heroin, only what the papers tell them, and that aint accurate. People panic at anything, look at ecstasy in the early 1990s. People are only panicking because they are misinformed, and I think the question that arises from this is whether drugs should be legalised, if heroin was legal would people still be panicking?

Some research suggests that all heroin users have had some sort of trauma in their lives, which in turn has lead them to turn to heroin. Do you agree with this statement?

"Well I cant say whether or not all heroin users have had traumas in their lives, but then again you name me any one person who hasn’t had some sort of trauma in their life. The study you are referring to is of little relevance, and the people who conducted it probably did so for their own therapy. Trauma may play a part in some people turning to heroin, but look at peer pressure, boredom . . . .and look at the fact that some of them even take it just because its their."

What do you think is the main aim of the court when dealing with heroin addicts?

"Well we must remember that the main aim of our legal system is to protect the public. However, at the other end of the scale, Lincolnshire is among the poorest providers of rehabilitation facilities. There is not one detox bed in the whole of the county. When you look at it in this way the courts are severely limited as to what they can do with the heroin users."

So the facilities in this town must border on useless for heroin addicts?

"The facilities in this town are dreadful. There is the Beaconsfield clinic, which does deal with drug users, but that can only take a certain amount of drug users. There are of course doctors, and people like ourselves, and there was once a drug-based group in the town-but it folded. There is also a woman, I can’t remember her name, but she drives around in a bus on some sort of moral crusade. I have heard that she even hands out needles to the addicts; she probably does it for her own therapy."

Have you yourself had much success in helping addicts become ‘clean?’

“My job is harm minimization, and so my goal is to help users achieve their goals. If they want to quit it then I will advise them and try to help them. I can only help with their physical cleanliness, which in my view is only 10% of the job done. The rest is psychological and lasts for the rest of their lives. In my opinion there is no such thing as an ex-user, only a user putting off their next hit. Out of the several hundred heroin addicts I have come across there is only one person that I can say can truly control his heroin use. The goals of most addicts are not to come off it, but to control it. I can’t push them to quit, I can only support what they choose top do.”

So what is the answer to combating this ‘epidemic,’ this rise in heroin abuse?

"The only feasible way to deal with the problem is by decriminalising drug use. I can only see the drug problem getting worse simply because drug use is not permitted. I know I have somewhat radical ideas and I can’t see the decriminalisation of drugs happening. So I can only see the problem getting worse because nothing else works-which paints a pretty depressing picture."

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