ADDICTS: WHY DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGAL

The three people in the room in The Elms in Wrexham are all drug users
and they all agree with Chief Constable Brunstrom - drugs should be
legalised.

The difference between their drug use and a person enjoying a drink is
that they are addicted and have all been arrested for crimes they
committed to feed their habit.

But maybe these people are unlucky drug users, like unlucky drinkers
become alcoholics, the difference is an alcoholic is not breaking the
law when they go and get their fix.

Last week the Chief Constable of North Wales urged that the Misuse of
Drugs Act of 1971 should be replaced by a new Substance Misuse Act,
'based upon the legalisation and careful regulation of all substances
of abuse in one consistent manner'.

He said he would campaign hard for a new act, and that the ABC
classification system should be replaced by a new scientifically based
'Hierarchy of Harm' which must include tobacco and alcohol.

Though he hasn't gone as far as to advocate the availability of drugs
in shops his campaign would decriminalise the drug user, like those in
The Elms.

"Prison is a completely negative experience for a drug user, what is
the point of locking addicts up?" says one of the men.

"It isn't locking up they need, but help."

One would expect drug users to agree with the Chief Constable, these
three people don't want to be regarded as criminals or have their door
kicked down by police after months of surveillance, but chillingly
their stories start innocently and it is only due to a series of bad
decisions and events out of their control that they have ended up here.

All three are intelligent and articulate and they provide a sound and
reasonable argument for the decriminalisation of drugs.

They are part of SUSTC (Service Users Steps Towards Change) at The
Elms in Wrexham, a place which provides community-based mental health
services for adults with severe or enduring metal health problems,
including drug and alcohol problems.

"I know lots of people who are rich and clever who take drugs. The
problem with heroin is that it is an insidious drug, it creeps up on
you," says the 46-year-old.

"The reason there is such a stigma about drug users is because the
ones the police catch are desperate and they are the ones you see in
the media, they have to steal to pay for their drugs, they have to
commit crime.

"The rich ones who hold down jobs don't get caught by police and don't
tend to have to hang around alleyways."

"The problem with drugs being illegal is that you centre most of your
life on getting hold of them," says the 26-year-old.

"You get up and have to find a dealer. You can't do anything until you
have got your fix, only once you have it can you get on with your day."

Today this 26-year-old is in his first year of a college course at
Newi, the woman is in the third year of her course.

They have their prescriptions, they don't need to go out and score and
this enables them to focus their energy onto something else.

"People don't understand addiction," says the woman.

"They think we have a choice, that we can choose not to go and wait
for a guy down an alleyway so we can get out drugs.

"You don't have that choice, you go down the alleyway because if you
don't you have the prospect of not having your drugs and being very
very ill.

"I have been robbed, I have been attacked," she says.

"If you can you try and get a woman dealer, it is safer.

"Also, if it was legal then people might be more open with their
doctors if they did have a problem. I think now people won't tell
their doctor because they think they will get into trouble," she says.

These three people help run the Service User Group based in The
Elms.

Their role is to change substance use services for users and get them
involved in their own treatment.

"We know our rights and we want to make sure others know as well, if
they have any problems, complaints or opinions about their treatment
then we help them find their voice and make a change," said the woman.

All three accept that if you decriminalise drugs there is a
possibility that it would encourage those who would never have tried
them to experiment, but agree that to make them readily available
would be a catastrophe.

"You don't want to create a free for all, that would be ridiculous,
but if they were available at the chemist then it would be easier for
those who need them.

"For those who just want to experiment, it wouldn't be very glamorous
going to the chemist, not like now. Look at the celebrities who take
drugs, they make it glamorous.

"What do people see? That if you take drugs you will get in the paper,
it is part of the attraction."

While they understand all too well pitfalls of drug addiction they are
indignant about the stigma that is held of them when they can see
society consume such vast quantities of alcohol, harming themselves
and others in the process.

"There are social drugs all over the world," said the older
man.

"In the western world we drink alcohol but I am teetotal.

"It's just that I chose drugs instead."

Who We Interviewed

ONE 26 year old man is stable on prescription methadone.

He has stopped illicit drug use.

He has tried all the drugs including heroin, cocaine, and cannabis and
he started when he was a teenager.

Like a lot of young boys he enjoyed going to clubs and there he tried
ecstasy.

His problem is that he then fell into the wrong crowd.

He took harder drugs and became addicted to heroin.

He says drugs should be legalised because it would get users out of
the circle of crime they commit to pay for expensive drugs from
rip-off dealers.

Last year he stole to pay for his drugs and was caught by the police,
which meant he couldn't start his university course.

ONE woman in her 20s is on a methadone prescription.

She has been using heroin since she was 18 after a traumatic
childhood.

She was abused by her step mother and when she moved out she was
raped.

As a young woman she sought comfort with the wrong people who gave her
heroin.

She says the heroin acted as an escape to the pain she felt after her
attack.

Then she became addicted.

She believes drugs should be legalised because it would mean women
like her wouldn't have to hang around dark alleyways looking for a
fix.

ONE man is 46 and is on methadone prescription and morphine sulphate
tablets.

He was addicted to heroin.

He loved the counter-culture of the 60s and as a teenager devoured
literature written by poets like William Blake, impressed by what they
wrote on the drugs experience.

He found it glamorous and he copied them.

He went to university and got a degree in biology and geography but
two years later he was charged with possession of heroin, barbituates
and amphetamines and possession and intent to supply cannabis.

He was released from jail 12 months later and with a criminal record
found it hard to get a job.

He turned back to drugs.