FORMER ADDICT GRADUATES WITH HONOURS TO KICK HABIT

CHRISTINA starting smoking heroin when she was 17. Two months later she was
shooting up. Less than two years after that her family found out when she
overdosed in the bedroom of her home. It's an all too familiar story, that
all too often ends up with the addict either in prison or dead. But the
26-year-old is very much alive today, drug free and expecting her first
child in a little over a month.

Christina, not her real name, graduated last night with eight other
recovering heroin addicts from a unique project based in her home area. All
have remained off the drug for more than a year.

The Ringsend and District Response to Drugs is defiantly local and the
programme combines traditional treatment and counselling with other
services, such as weekends away, career guidance and recreational activities.

A key element is mutual support between the clients and many of the 29 who
have graduated so far return to help those still struggling.

Christina, in her near eight years taking drugs, attempted to get off
heroin in the past, from doing it by herself to attending clinics and
residential rehab units. She was on a methadone programme for many years,
but always returned to heroin.

"I think I was doing it purely for my family and not for myself. If you do
not want to get off, nobody will make you do it," she said.

But she was also put off by the approach of other agencies. "It seemed like
other people were always looking for something, more information than I
wanted to give and were pushing you to come down quicker than you wanted."

Drug addicts, she said, are very quick to make snap judgements on those
charged with trying to get them off. "If you find them a bit too forceful,
then you back off," she said.

The office of the South Western Health Board-funded programme was a
30-second walk away from her front door. She knew about it but never went
in, believing that no one knew of her addiction in the area. Of course,
everybody knew.

Eventually she joined and says: "As time goes on, you come to an
understanding. Now I never deny my past for the simple reason, and I don't
want to be cocky, is that my past has made me the person I am today and is
part of the person I am today."

Teresa Weafer, project co-ordinator, said: "A large element of the approach
is encouraging the involvement of family and friends in the treatment process.

"We would strongly advocate a drug-free approach to recovery. Having said
that, we do understand that for some clients methadone is sometimes
necessary to help clients through the very initial stages, but we would
limit this to as short a period as possible."