ONE MAN ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

ALL John wants is a steady job,a house he can call home and the
satisfaction of walking through Glasgow city centre without looking
for a drugs dealer, writes Andrew Denholm.

"I couldn't go outside without seeing the dealers, without spotting
them on the street corners and wanting to buy from them," he said.

"Life became about drugs and getting drugs, and that's what I want to
change.

"I want to be able to pay bills for my own home with money I have
earned, rather than spending money I have stolen on buying drugs."

After developing a serious heroin habit which began to control his
life after his mother died in 1994, John gradually slid into a spiral
of despair during which he lost his job at a paint factory, his home
and, eventually, even his will to live.

He said: "I started smoking heroin to come down from Es [ecstasy] and
LSD at the weekend and I never thought I had a problem. After my
mother died I used it even more to try and put my problems to the back
of my mind, always smoking it. When I tried to stop I realised I was
hooked and that's when I began to lose it."

John managed to keep some semblance of control over his life, which
was interspersed with periods when he would smoke heroin and periods
when he was "clean" But a few months ago he realised he was out of
control as the relapses increased.

It was then that the 28-year-old from Barrhead decided he needed help.
But he spent months being shoved from one homeless hostel to another,
where he found drugs even harder to avoid.

Finally, he arrived at the Glasgow-based Link-Up project for rough
sleepers with mental health problems or drug or alcohol addictions.

Run by the charity Turning Point Scotland, it provides a 28-day safe
haven and detoxification programme for addicts. John said: "I am off
the heroin, I'm putting on weight and I've got my health back. I even
saw my family last week for the first time in a long time. This
project has made a normal life a possibility for me again."