ANY teenager in Flintshire can easily get his hands on a ready supply of hard drugs
ANY teenager in Flintshire can easily get his hands on a ready supply of hard drugs.
That's the chilling view of recovering drug addict 'John' as we sit in the Nacro (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) centre in Victoria Road, Shotton.
'Drop me off in any road in Connah's Quay, Shotton, Mancot, Queensferry or Garden City and it will take me 10 minutes to get you any drug you want - cannabis, Ecstasy, heroin, whatever,' he said.
I met the 22-year-old former Hawarden High School pupil to talk about how he became addicted to heroin and the effect the drug has had on his life and the lives of his parents.
He said: 'I had a great family, my parents both work and gave me everything I wanted.
'I was a bit rebellious, though, especially at school. I was always misbehaving and my reports were always poor. My teachers always said I was intelligent, but lacked application.'
He added: '
I first smoked weed [cannabis] at 14. I had lots of friends who had older brothers so getting hold of weed was never a problem, in fact, it was dead easy. Not so much in school, but I knew plenty of lads and girls that were smoking it and had a ready supply.
'Any 14 or 15-year-old can get their hands on a mountain of cannabis if they really want it.'
As he got older, the opportunity to take more and more cannabis increased.
He said: 'I started spending more time in the Quay, Hawarden and Queensferry, not just Mancot. At that time I was paying £90 for an ounce of weed. Now you'd have to pay less than half that, about £40 an ounce.
'The first my parents knew about me smoking weed was after I got caught smoking it in school. It was the last day before half-term. I bought some at dinner and smoked it. When I went back I fell asleep at my desk and fell off the chair during a technology class. I made out I was ill.
'After half-term I discovered someone had grassed me up and I had to see the headteacher. I struck a deal that if I went to Rowley's Drive in Shotton to see a drug counsellor about my smoking cannabis I would be allowed to stay in school, although I got a week's suspension.
'The head also wrote to my parents, who were shocked. I expected a real rollicking and perhaps a leathering when I got home but they were more worried than anything. We had a long chat about where I was going but I never really stopped smoking weed.'
But by the time John reached 18 he began to experiment with harder drugs.
He said: 'After I left school I began working as a machinist at a Hawarden firm at 17. I got to know my workmates, the majority of whom seem to be taking drugs on a regular basis.
'I started spending more and more nights away from home. We used to go to a couple of houses in Broughton where we'd listen to music and take pills. Once I was introduced to Ecstasy I soon discovered plenty of people in Deeside who were selling it. Over the course of a weekend I'd take between 10 and 15 tablets. I'd buy them for £2 or £3 each on a Friday.'
He added: 'Then it was on to speed [amphetamine], which I'd buy for £5 a gram. Ecstasy gave me a buzz in my head and made me unsteady on my feet but in a good way. Speed sharpens your senses, like caffeine but 100 times more.'
John then had a spell free from drugs after passing his driving test and getting a new job. But it wasn't to last long.
He said: 'I was about 20 or 21 and lost my job, I got laid off from the Sandycroft firm I had been working at for a while and became pretty depressed as I couldn't find a new job.
'I began hanging around with a different crowd and got introduced to smack [heroin]. I still had my car and my mates would ask me to give them a lift.
'A friend asked me to take him to the Quay to score one day and when we got back to Mancot we sat in a garage while he had a toot [smoking heroin fumes after first heating it on foil].
'I asked my mates if I could try it. They were in two minds but agreed. I inhaled it and it tasted and smelt of rotten fish. I threw up. It didn't stop me taking it every now and then though and eventually every weekend.'
Yet again new employment put a temporary halt to John's downward spiral into the world of hard drugs. He managed to secure a job at another Sandycroft firm. But after another lay-off he began taking heroin more frequently.
He said: '
I thought I was in control but I woke up one day in pain and it hit me - I needed a fix. People say if you take smack for a week, you're addicted. But with me it took weeks, whether that was because I only took small amounts a day I don't know.'
But once he realised he was hooked, he began taking more and more of the Class A drug.
John said: '
I began taking stuff from home, the DVD player, odd things like that, and pawning it. I'd get my Giro and buy it back but then needed to pawn something else even sooner, and on it went. Mum and dad used to go berserk when they found out but I always had a plausible excuse and they never realised just how badly I was abusing drugs.'
But John was then to commit the most heinous theft imaginable in the eyes of his parents.
John said: 'I took my mum's jewellery from her bedroom, which was apparently worth about £2,000, and sold it for £40.
'I don't blame mum for going to the police, in fact, it stopped me from going any lower. At the time I thought nothing of taking it, now I'm clean, I feel total shame and utter disgust.'
He added: 'I eventually got a DDTO (Drug Treatment and Testing Order). I have to go twice a week to Rowley's Drive and I'm tested to make sure I haven't been taking drugs.
'At first it wasn't always negative but I've been clean now for more than two months.'
And his relationship with his mum has improved. He said: 'She's fantastic and would have me back home if she could. But I've got a lot to do to prove I'm getting better to my dad.
'I'm now living in a flat. All I've got is a camping stove, a small telly and a camp bed. But I have to vacate that flat in a week and unless I find somewhere I'll be sleeping rough.
'I've had an interview with CAIS (Cyngor Alcohol Information Service) in Wrexham and, basically, if I stay clean for a few weeks more and prove I'm trying, there could be a property for me.'John added: '
Any youngster that considers taking any drugs should just think what they are doing.
'Sure, there are some that never take anything more than weed but the chances are they'll move on to something stronger.'
But he says he knows drugs are always just a few yards and minutes away if he really wants them.
'Drugs will always flood into Deeside, North Wales and any other area, and it comes in cars,' he said. 'Wherever I go, even a town I've never visited before in my life, I know, if I want them, I can get any drug I want within minutes.
'http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/local-news/drop-any-road-connahs-quay-2916728
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