editorial comment A rare dose of sanity.....

ANY DISCUSSION of Britain's worsening drug problem is riddled with stereotypes. But behind the labels of user, addict and dealer are the human stories of those involved in the costly trade.

Here, a range of people whose lives have been influenced by drugs and addictions speak frankly about their experiences...

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SOME names have been changed to protect identities

THE CRACK DEALER

JAMES Nichols, 34, went from studying for a degree to dealing crack and heroin from a flat in London's East End.

I STARTED smoking cannabis a lot when I was at university. I noticed that the bloke who was selling it to me was doing well for himself while I was in debt.

So I started dealing to a few friends. Soon I was dealing to friends of friends, and then strangers. I told myself I would keep doing it until I paid off my student loan, but of course I carried on.

Everyone was asking for speed and ecstasy. I was making a good living and I was everybody's friend. When I did my first coke deal, I did stop and think: 'Wait a minute, I'm a drug dealer now.'

I don't have any moral problems with what I do. Most of my customers are suited and booted blokes who happen to take drugs, so don't ask me to feel bad about it.

THE STUDENT DOPE SMOKER

JUSTIN Argent, 21, is a student at Durham University and has been a regular recreational drug user since his teens.

I PROBABLY smoke cannabis about four days a week and take a couple of ecstasy pills at the weekend. It costs me about £150 a month.

It's not about getting out of my face - more to do with enhancing good times.

I got into cannabis when I was 13, but I never lost sight of my school work. I got an A and two Bs at A-level.

I first tried ecstasy when I was 17. It was possibly the best night of my life and I didn't seem to feel any after-effects.

I'm well aware of the risks. I always take drugs with friends and we look after each other. I've seen the down-side, too. A friend died at 17 of a heroin overdose.

But if you've got everyone telling you that doing something is bad, that makes you want to go out and do it."

THE COCAINE USER

AS a 34-year-old public relations executive, Oliver Jones enjoys a well-paid job. But there are the long hours entertaining clients and attending functions. He spends between £150 and £200 a month on cocaine, which he claims helps him with his hectic lifestyle.

IT may sound like a brilliant job, and I won't pretend it isn't sometimes a lot of fun. But you have to do the parties and meals on top of your work hours.

Sometimes it is a struggle to stay awake, but when you are with an important client you can't suddenly nod off.

"Coke is preferable to drink because you're not getting fuzzy-headed and you don't feel sick the next day.

It's pretty easy to get hold of and comparatively cheap as well. A gram of coke costs between £50 and £60, depending on the quality.

It is fairly common in this business but you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. I try to use it only when I need to. I don't want to end up a drug casualty.

THE POLICE CHIEF CONSTABLE

FORMER Gwent chief constable Francis Wilkinson spent a 30-year career waging war on drugs. He believes the war has been lost.

WE have got ourselves into a self-destructive pyramid- selling scheme. You have dealers at the top selling to users who in turn find new people to sell to to pay for their habit.

This only benefits the big dealers and has meant that the UK has the worst heroin problem in the West.

Living in a drug-free world is like communism - it is a very nice ideal but is totally unrealistic.

The evidence suggests that a third of theft-related crimes are committed by people who take hard drugs. It is cheaper to set up clinics than to put them through the courts.

"Approximately six million people smoke cannabis in this country. If you legalised it and it was taxed, that money could go to the Treasury.

THE FORMER ADDICT

LIVING with a partner addicted to heroin and crack introduced 22-year-old Marie Mitchell to drugs. What started as occasional use quickly spiralled into a £500-a-week habit.

ONCE you are hooked on crack you need to come down eventually - and that's when you start taking heroin.

My boyfriend and I spent over £1,000 a week on drugs - we'd shoplift up to £400 and £500 worth of goods a day to cover our habits.

I was sent to prison and my sister-in-law got full-time custody of our three daughters.

I always hated myself for taking drugs. In prison I went cold turkey. Next to childbirth it was the most excruciating pain, but I got through it.

Probation officers put me on the Drugscope Women's Using Programme which was the support I needed to help me stay off drugs.

THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER

DR Adrian Garfoot's treatment of heroin addicts by supplying them with the drug resulted in him being struck off in 2001. But he is unrepentant about the methods he used at his surgery on the Isle of Dogs, East London.

THE government has spent millions, if not billions, on trying to clamp down on drugs - but there are more addicts than ever. Prison and the current healthcare provision clearly do not work.

Since I stopped my practice at least 22 out of 200 of my former patients are dead. When they couldn't get it from me they bought it from dealers on the street. And they would steal to pay for it.

Drugs destroy families and communities. With doctors supplying drugs in a controlled manner you can cut out many of the illegal elements.

Locking drug addicts up doesn't and hasn't worked. Why should it change now?

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