Home For Heroin Addicts May Have To Close Due To Government Red Tape

Interviews with drug addicts and the managers of the home.

Scenes of house exterior and grounds at Still Waters, a former rectory owned by the Diocese of Chelmsford near Basildon / Wickford, Essex. For three years it has been run by Eyan Law and Ruth Law as one of the few centres in the UK offering a home and work for heroin addicts to help wean them off the drug. They can house 8 people but face closure as they are running out of funds. A group of young men walk in the grounds and set to work sorting a pile of potatoes. Two young women named as Ann and Juliet talk to the Anglia TV reporter Stephen Cole. One girl says she was accustomed to shoplifting to support her habit and ended up in prison. The other girl arrived at Still Waters three days ago, and she is feeling OK but is not strong. She has been taking heroin and methadone since she was 14 years old and has never worked but she funded her drug habit through prostitution. Jim Smith took up heroin 22 years ago in the 1960s. He is not ready to live without drugs and would return to theft if the home closed. It is possible that David Amess MP will raise the funding issue with Health Minister Kenneth Clarke. The reporter talks with Eyan Law (himself a former heroin user) and his wife Ruth. Responding to a quote from Mrs Thatcher than “we will find the money to beat heroin”, Eyan says they are dealing with a government department which has priorities out of line with those of the voluntary services which are carrying out the work. Ruth is sad because they have put much work into the project and it is badly needed in this area. This video was made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Drug addiction; Heroin; Rehabilitation

Additional Description

See also Cat 22195