Off the drugs and off the streets
Good morning. I woke up at 5.47 in a bunkbed in a house in Walsall today. The tiny cluttered bedroom belongs to Kay, a 23-year-old woman from Leeds, who lives here at the Manor Women's Project with sixteen other women. They all have two things in common:
1. They have all been addicted to heroin and crack cocaine.
2. They are all off the heroin and crack cocaine, and have been since they came to live here.
Last night, we sat in the front room and chatted about their lives over a Chinese takeaway and cups of tea. On the programme today, we'll talk about the successes of this place, and how they manage to guide people from their chaotic, drug-fuelled lives on the streets to college and a job.
Do watch this short film we made at an old disused warehouse near Walsall town centre, where some of the women used to take their punters, and take their drugs.
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I am elated that you have given these women the chance to speak about their lives. It's clear your listeners aren't the most understanding from the comments I'm hearing you read out, but I do hope this show can change some minds. Good on you. You can read my arguments for tackling the problem here. http://ewansliberalmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/who-will-help-me-bring-our-girls-home.html These women are being punished beyond all proportion for a few mistakes they have made in their lives.
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I suffered hardship poverty and abuse as a child and young adult and the support or services of care were lacking for me or not there at all. i was not to blame for my situation and was a just a child so how do you justify so much support for a self inflicted situation, i am in frequent contact with people who have access to drugs, saying that they are forced on you is a myth, a person has to make a decision to take a drug that is ilegal for which there sould be a punishment and it is also very irrisponsible more so if you are a parent.
Jack. Derby.
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What a lot of self pitying people ! "If I get bored I might return to drugs "
They should try being brought up in Africa, they live in a 1st world country with all the advantages that brings .
This sort of item just makes me angry.
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I was on board with them til the 'bored/drugs' bit. There is something seriously wrong with the attitude of many hundreds and thousands of people in this country.
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Drugs may not be forced on these girls, but if a pusher offers a teenage girl a free sample on a night when they're feeling a bit rebellious, their mistake in taking the drug can then imprison them in years of addiction with the horrific experiences that entails. Anyone's daughter is a couple of mistakes away from being a street prostitute. That is unacceptable.
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Have these contributors ever been bored and felt like going down the pub? These young women have just experienced different drugs that make them feel better, and so turn to different drugs when they're bored.
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i am shocked at some of the comments from some of your listeners about these girls.....there but for the grace of god go any of us or any of our children......I lost friends to drug use when i was a teenager in dublin 30 years ago and its a horrible death.....yes it was their choice to take the drugs but it was also their choice to stop and to stay stopped and for that i applaud them, keep up the good work girls and god bless
happy_feet
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I can't get my head around Victoria "doing" compassion - where's the bored, switched off, inattentive host we all know and love?
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Everybody involved with the drug centre needs to be applauded, the determination of the people getting off the drugs and the hard work of the staff.
I would like to ask the people wanting to go into mental health services with the great insight they now have, do they see the possibility of this being a problem in that a current user could say well you got off it. And what do the staff feel about this.
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What is the success rate of this drug rehab facility? Out of every 10 people who are referred to it, how many are successfully rehabilitated? How long do you keep in contact with the residents after they have left your care?
From my own experience with living in a "so-called" rehab home for the mentally ill, the vast majority of the residents left care, just as ill as when they went into it, or relapsed within months of being discharged.
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Fantastic broadcast. The Manor Womens Project is really a shining star. Do you know if there are others out there? It would be good if a directory of these could be collated and available somewhere. I googled for 'like' projects but none stood out.
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I wonder why Victoria chose to interview female drug addicts and not male ones. Could it be that it would not have been so emotional listening to a middle aged bloke talking about burgling and drug dealing? Much better to have tears and cuddles with vulnerable girls.
I don't think that this broadcast told me anything new about drugs. Heroin addicts can have their withdrawal symptoms removed by methodone, but that's not good enough for them. They want more, so they take heroin on top.
This may sound like I am criticising the addicts, but to me they are neither saints nor sinners. If you have ever lived next door to them you can't see them as victims, either male or female.
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Victoria,
Thankyou for your programme this morning - the first time I have cried listening to the radio! (or maybe the tears were for Mr Allingham?) I really respect the women and thier mothers that you featured on your programme. I have never done crack or Heroin and have no desire to , however at the age of 16 (?) me and a fantastic group of public school friends decided to try cannabis. What an adventure going down to London (carnaby street) to find some, a story in itself! I'm now 44, had a successful career in financial services for 17 years, broke under the pressure in 1999 and have wondered through life for the last 10 years. Wondered but have learnt! I have taken Cannabis daily for the last 20 odd years for no other reson that it makes me feel good/relaxed.
Drugs are available to everyone - Fags, alcohol, prozac etc etc. The drugs addicts you featured on your programme today are all at the bottom of the pile - people that rightfully expect a life but are given nothing!
What do I mean by that? Have you ever lived on a bad council estate! Where the norm is for young girls to get pregnant to get a house and benefits, have you ever...... have you ever.....
Drug addicts are not the problem =the system is!
Legalise it and you get rid of the guys that are in it for the fast buck! (the criminals!) And more importantly all those young men that have died and been crippled in Afganistan as those afgan nationals defend thier income -poppies!
I interviewed a guy years ago that was desperate for a job that had been sent down for importing e's from main land europe - I was intrigued as to WHY he choose that path? His answer was they made hime feel good and he was sure that he could give the same to his friends and mates and make some money to secure his families future!
I grew up under the Thachter reign -and voted for that Lier
she promised a great education system and
a brilliant Health service (I've watched my dad and ex mother in law die under that wonderful system!)
Blair promised the SAME , never delivered, and Brown is promising and and and- Victoria all lies!
People just want to live I choose to have a few joints every day - I go out and work and do a better job that most - but i am a criminal because I smoke!
I bet Harry Allingham wished he had a drug when he was at Passiondale
how many days of PEACE has their been since the FIRST WORLD WAR? Look up that stat because it will astoned you!
There is absolutly no reason why we all (athiest,christians,muslims,etc etc etc etc etc) can not live in Peace -Love to everyone that reads this
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