WASTED LIVES

Family devastated by heroin deaths

WHEN his son died from heroin earlier this year Dr Dennis Harvey told his
story to The Herald in the hope it might save others.

Yesterday - seven months on - Dr Harvey was mourning the death of another
of his children. Aged 23, Elizabeth Harvey also died from a suspected
heroin overdose.

'They're obviously very devastated.' a friend of the well-known Stockton
family said yesterday. 'They're a good family. They don't deserve this.'

Elizabeth was found dead in her bed on Sunday morning by her fiancee at the
Lambton house the couple rented. Police believe she had injected heroin at
a party on Saturday night.

'It appears she had taken quite a substantial amount of alcohol on top of
the heroin,' a police spokesman said. 'We believe she died some time after
she came home and went to bed.'

A post mortem was conducted yesterday and a report would be forwarded to
the Coroner.

'From the family's point of view the cause of her death is undetermined,' a
relative said. 'That will be up to the Coroner to decide.'

Her death comes in the wak of Newcastle Lord Mayor's call for the
decriminalisation of heroin. Cr Greg Heys, who announced his support
recently for a free heroin trial in the city, said on Monday that
decriminalisation was a 'harm minimisation' approach. He said it was the
best way to support heroin addicts.

For the Harvey family it was all too late. Dr Harvey and his wife Kay were
trying to come to terms with anothewr senseless loss yesterday.

The first tragedy occurred on Good Friday this year when their son, John,
died.
John, 20, was lying in a lounge chair after a hit of heroin when he heard
an intruder. He gave chase but fell, blocking the oxygen to his brain and
later dying.

In an interview with The Herald after the death Dr and Mrs Harvey told
their son's story in the hope it might stop others from the same fate.

Dr Harvey said John was one of five children and was an outstanding
sportsman. He became addicted to heroin when he was about 15. Before that
he experimented with other drugs, including marijuana. His parents tried
everything - sending him to rehabilitation centres and supporting him.

During his years of drug abuse John wrote poems about the power of heroin
and of its potential to kill. The poems told of how John felt trapped and
helpless to change his drug-dominated lifestyle.

His talent saved him from a jail sentence after he robbed his grandmother,
with the judge telling him 'you have got insight into your problem. I'll
give you a chance to fix it'.

Two months after John's death Dr Harvey had a book of John's poems printed.
Inside Dr Harvey wrote: 'If his poetry helps one person to give up drugs,
we think John would be pleased. This booklet is produced in that hope.'

Insight: Part of John Harvey's poem,

"But this comes sooner than you expected and from this world you are ejected.
And the ones you left behind, will never recover, it haunts their mind.
And the question they ask themselves is why?"

Checked-by: Pat Dolan