SHINING EXAMPLES
a nice touch on some grass-fed beef that goes down a treat with the people in the boozer. A whole side of salmon to sell in a fancy restaurant. Then comes the day when money is scarce, the gear is shit and a security guard – or someone you owe money to – beats you up or the local psycho decides you looked at him funny. Your hardearned bag of brown is not
Hospital is better than jail. In most large hospitals in the UK the dealers will deliver to the smoking area and there are plenty of toilets to inject in.
heroin but a synthetic opioid and instead of drifting blissfully into the arms of Lady Morphia some interfering bastard is zapping you with naloxone and you come to in an ambulance – sick, sad and in withdrawal.
So, out of the ambulance or hospital and back to scoring again and again and again.
This goes on for days, weeks, months, years. There are intervals, though. The unpaid fines build up, the failures to attend probation and an old warrant lead to a spell in prison. A bad hit leads to another abscess, which is infected and gets you a few days in hospital. If the infection is very bad, it might mean an amputation. Well, you’ re not the first to lose a leg to this game and at least you get a wheelchair, which can help with the begging. Maybe you can sell the wheelchair.
HUNTING GROUNDS Hospital is better than jail. In most large hospitals in the UK the dealers will deliver to the smoking area and there are plenty of toilets to inject in. Also, it’ s a hospital. It’ s full of sick people who have drugs. It’ s a nice hunting ground for what you need. You get three meals a day, its warm, there might be a TV room and an off-licence within hobbling distance. There might even be a chance of a romantic encounter down on
Maybe a detox and a place in a rehab... run by a Jack The Lad who’ s managed to blag himself £ 1,000 a month from the local council for your fully furnished cell, sorry,‘ recovery home’.
the psychiatric ward. But, the day comes and the hospital needs your bed so it’ s back to‘ The Life’ and the whole rigmarole starts up again, and you shift your shape to fit into that familiar pattern.
Somewhere in all this you get an appointment at the drug and alcohol community treatment service. If you remember the day,
SHINING EXAMPLES
date and time and turn up, you might get a brew as your‘ key worker’ or‘ recovery navigator’ – the ones with the lanyards – starts filling in the forms. The same old questions, retelling your backstory of trauma to a fresh-faced, well-meaning individual earning a few quid more than they’ d get working on the tills in a supermarket. It might be worth it, there might be some medication at the end of the paper trail.
Maybe a detox and a place in a rehab – well a bed in a converted terraced house with three or four other refugees from‘ The Life’ – run by a Jack The Lad who’ s managed to blag himself £ 1,000 a month from the local council for your fully furnished cell, sorry,‘ recovery home’.
There are nightly trips to the local 12-step meetings where you get a brew and some decent biscuits, get to show off your brand-new trainers and maybe get a date and a chance to take a new love hostage. She might have a house and a couple of kids who need another new dad...
This might sound bleak. However, this is the world I’ ve been researching and living in for the last six months. But I’ m not in despair. I’ ve seen some great work that warms my heart.
There are places where‘ The Service’ is flexible and is able to shift its shape to accommodate the reality of‘ The Life’. Calderdale in West Yorkshire is a shining example of what can be done when‘ The Service’ and people in‘ The Life’ are each able to shape shift enough to make authentic human connections, and together they’ re able to produce plans to prosper, not to harm – plans that give hope and a future. The partnership between Waythrough and The Basement Recovery Project( TBRP) shows what can be done when‘ The Life’ and‘ The Service’ keep shape shifting to a minimum.
Mark R Gilman is a consultant on substance use at Harm Reduction Research, Policy & Practice
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