Original subtitles

This is a film about drugs, about taking

drugs and getting off drugs. Nowadays I

don't drink or take drugs.

Amazing UK round of applause to

Mr. Russell Brown.

I'm a little bit cool, a little bit of a

twig, and I sort of think I'm Jesus.

10 years ago though, I couldn't get

enough of them.

Cannabis, booze, acid, speed, coke,

crack, smack. That's heroin.

I took drugs every single day.

Started being afraid of the

fact that you could die.

I remember you saying in six months time

you were going to be dead in prison or in

a lunatic asylum. Yeah, I remember

hearing that. I'm thinking, you know what

sounds heavy?

It's heartbreaking is amount when you

fought and it's some beautiful little

child into the world to see that happen.

I got clean at the age of 27,

the age Amy Winehouse was when she died.

Amy's death was a paradoxical,

unsurprising shock. I felt like I could

have done something too well to give her

the chance I had.

That's why I made this film, to have a

sympathetic look at alcoholism and

addiction, a condition that the World

Health Organization regards as a

disorder. That program

any of us are toxic individuals to be

around in it for our families and society

at large for ourselves. I reckon that

drugs and alcoholism are much

misunderstood in our country by users,

non users and the government. We need to

start regarding addiction in all its

forms as a health issue as opposed to a

judicial and criminal. In

this film, I want to learn more and see

if we could do things differently.

Doesn't make no difference to me. The

money, the fame, the power, the sex, the

women, none of it. I'd rather be a drug

addict. If I didn't have my program, I'd

be a drug addict today.

I like, I loved her on the basis of her

thought she was really, really brilliant

and that I recognized this person's got

it. This person's got the thing.

You're happy she's on edge, this person

she drank a glass of champagne then threw

it over her shoulder and went can help

mate. We're doing that for shooting or

did it to impress you. I went whoa time

and then she was someone smoking flags

and flicking them still lit around this

room and. I've got the sense of a ticking

clock then, and spoke to a few other

people about like, hey, there's need to

do something.

I got 100 times. Steve Brooks and Grammy

award-winning singer Amy Winehouse has

died at her home in north London. The

27 year old has struggled with drink and

drug problems for a number of years and

recently finished a rehab course.

100 times.

Back to her.

That sense that I had with Amy, that

feeling of, ohh, I knew that was going to

happen, you know, and I just suppose for

some reason because of this flickering

sense I had while I, while Amy was alive,

that I should be doing something about

that.

So that's where. I'm

relieved and Mitch and I've

stopped left arm room.

These are some of the tributes that are

left there. You can see, though I don't

approve of writing on trees, but you can

see that they've really made this into a

shrine. I mean, in the last six weeks of

her life, 5 1/2 weeks were sober and then

finally the last two days where she drank

an awful lot. So things were moving in

the right direction, but, you know, not

fast enough. Obviously.

Rehab.

Wrongly, she she didn't feel that that

that rehab was for her, which is

obviously she made that backing clear,

didn't she? Yeah.

From 2008 December, she was clear of

drugs, but of course, what happened? She

didn't deal with the underlying addiction

problem. And then finally, it was the

alcohol. Yeah. Should we have a quick

look at Amy Winehouse singing her heart

out? Let's say hello to Amy. You're

right, love. I think our hair war was

finished. You know, let's forget. Let's

have hair piece between you and me now.

Let the war be over. Yeah. You ain't

passed though. You love. Ohh. Not yet.

That's why I feel guilty in it because I

am an alcoholic junkie that got clean and

I didn't do you know I wasn't able to do

anything. You know you feel guilty

because of that. It's about Amy. She had

the power of. That has to stop drinking.

She was moving in that direction, but

what she was doing was dangerous her.

It's her responsibility, nobody else's.

We got to get this message across that

happened in addiction is an illness. It

needs to be treated just like any other

illness. And until we adopt that attitude

in this country, we're not going to get

anywhere. Whatever anyone could have done

for Amy, now, one thing is for sure, no

one can do anything. She's dead. But

there's probably millions of other people

suffering on the same part with loads of

people that are going to die if they

don't stop taking drugs and drinking when

it ain't necessary. It's like difficult

for the individual, it's difficult for

the family, it's detrimental for society

and it's completely unnecessary. Because

there is a solution.

We met and we were like, ohh, we're going

to change the world. We're gonna do this,

we're gonna do that. We're going to have

a TV show. Wow. And within a year we had

a TV show. So what if I do a brief

dance for some broccoli? Me and Martina

had 1/2. Not here, Brain production

company back when I was a junkie.

This poor sod suffered horribly as my

alcoholism and addiction accelerated my

loopy behaviour. Complete nudity has got

to be worth. I'm thinking the colour

flower because I've got tumorous testes

and they're resemble the cauliflower.

Wow. Everything we wanted we did it and

we were like what, 25?

And then suddenly things didn't work

anymore and do the ideas didn't come

anymore.

You were just gone all the

time taking drugs.

I found this and went to my grandma's

house where I hidden away just because

it's one of those things that I just

never wanted to see again.

Remember that.

A little chunky.

This is the thing where I know it's a

disease. It is whenever I see it. Doesn't

matter that like, I've sat there in that

flat in Hackney and now I'm in the Savoy

Hotel. I'm jealous of me then.

We were just completely lost and we

started being afraid of the fact that you

could die. There have been 8:00 in the

morning. I remember drinking a bottle of

gin that morning. You woke up and you're

like, I've got to drink this, I got to

take this and exploded everybody's life

in one moment. They sacked you as a

result of that. And I know you lost your

flat where you lived in Bethnal Green

because you couldn't afford to pay for it

anymore. And those consequences of my

actions, you know, with which they, you

know, they sort of so many, so many like

just people, you know, sort of what my

mum would have gone through, you know,

loads of put my friends all through sort

of so much you've got no bridge to.

Dealing with those kind of problems

because all the only problem you can

contend with is I can't cope with being

alive unless I have drugs. So what am I

going to do is a greedy disease. It will

take everything. First it will take your

money, then it will take your friends and

it will take your family, your car, your

house. Then it's going to take bits of

your body. And I used in here and be

scoring with people that had. Eyes

missing, limbs missing. It's Take it

until it takes your life, it'll take

everything until the until it's the last

thing left. And you'll gladly give it

that rather than give up the drugs. I'm

a recovering drug addict and know that

drug addiction is an illness. It's a

disease. He says he's not responsible.

Than drug taking people do it because

they want to comes from rich western kids

selfishly following their pleasures.

Russell Brand, I think you have been

called a selfish kid there. You certainly

is. Are you responsible for your actions

or are you not? Do you take drugs have to

or because you want to? People of course

are responsible for their actions. You're

responsible for writing for a bigoted.

OK. Very good point, Russell Brand.

I understand people who don't regard it

as a disease, even people like Peter

Hitchins. Because drug addicts are

extremely annoying people to be around.

They're selfish, impatient, egotistical,

self-destructive, demanding, total pains

in the ****.

Here I am with one now, my mate Paul.

I use many, many different drugs,

different substances. You know what like

cannabis, amphetamine, speed, cocaine,

LSD, ecstasy, crack cocaine, heroin,

Valium. What did you do at

the weekend trip to lean, you

know, painkillers prescribed and

prescribed. Legal. Illegal. Ohh. I'd get

the picture. I'm sorry. I asked more.

When did you? When? He now spends a lot

of his time helping other addicts. So I

asked him to take me to meet Nathan, a

young lad suffering from the disease. And

why are you spending time with this

Nathan character? He's 23. You know

which? You know, he's pretty Pretty. And

then he's an example of how addiction

runs right in his family. Give me a

cuddle before he starts. We're on the

right track Nathan. Not being cared since

I was 3 but grew up with my auntie.

Didn't have my own mum and dad and my

life and well, they, they both OD and

heroin. So ******* teared up. That it is

mate. Yeah, definitely. It's been a big

burden on my life. I think about it every

day of my life. Yeah, definitely. I'll

probably move on average every 3 months

while I was in care and that happened for

about two years. Um, I'll say I think

I moved there. I think it was like

something like 23 times I've counted over

a three-year. No stability. You weren't

taking drugs because it was fun or

something. Well, it was more about for me

was taking drugs because it was

basically. I didn't have

it. Like I said, I didn't have a family.

Did I hit? I was on my own. I was on my

own and the drug was there for me. That

drug was there for me when I was down.

That drug was there for me when I had no

food in my kitchen. That drug was there

for me when I had nothing to wash my

clothes with. So you know what, if I was

depressed, I'd do some drugs if I was

ill. I'll do some drugs, but no one to

speak to. I'll do some drugs. It was

definitely for everything, Russell. We

all have different stories, don't we? But

all of us, everyone you talk to will say

there's a sense of sadness inside a thing

that you're trying to fill up with drugs,

right? Yeah. It's it's always there.

Yeah. You'll never get rid of it by doing

drugs. It might work for the start. That

that feeling inside. I still have it now,

to be honest. Russell, mate. Is there

something Nathan and I have in common

that explains why we both became addicts?

Is it an illness or on me and Nathan

and homeless junkies? Just a bunch of

spoiled, selfish millionaires?You're

called Professor David Nutt. That's my

name. That's an amazing name. Yeah, well,

what else could I be other than a

psychiatrist brain, Other than a

character in Cluedo profession that in

the lab with a brain scanner. That's a

good one. To get some professional and

expert insight, I visited the man I call

the Nutty Professor. Scan their brains.

They're currently doing studies. He used

to be a government drug czar. Bloody

stupid term. He researched his addiction.

Here at Imperial College London, we're

doing the most sophisticated study ever

done on addiction, because what we're

doing is we're taking people with

addictions to alcohol or heroin.

Or cocaine. And we're scanning them in

that scanner and to understand what's

different about their brain compared with

other people, say, like Peter Hitchens,

the journalist. And a lot of people,

I think, believe that addiction is a

thing that people just sort of do.

People just take drugs. For laughs

because they're weak like, and obviously

I don't think that, but is there

neurological or at least psychiatric,

psychiatric evidence that this, that

addiction is a legitimate condition?

Unquestionably addiction has got

something to do with the brain. Most

people take drugs. Almost everyone in

this country drinks alcohol at some point

in their life. But only 10% get addicted,

and that 10% are different, and they're

different because their brain is

different. Our experience tells us the

addiction occurs usually through one of

three things. One is that people get

stressed. When you're stressed, you

activate parts of your brain. I've just

shown it up here. Just this part of the

brain here, which we call the amygdala,

the amygdala reacts. Distressed. Exactly.

And in some people it reacts excessively

to stress and we know that drugs like

alcohol can dampen that down. And so many

people become dependent on alcohol

because they use it to reduce stress. The

second is that people get pleasure, they

start to do something which is enjoyable

and then they start to take the drug to

reinforce that. That comes from another

part of the brain that comes from this

part of the brain here. It's an area of

the brain which has a lot of the

transmitter called dopamine. Dopamine

gets you going in the mornings. If you

don't have, if your dopamine is not

working, then you're stiff and flat. And

the third is that some people are just

very impulsive. Impulsivity is actually a

very straightforward behavior which we

can model in, in animals, for instance.

And it turns out that when you have a

very impulsive wrapped, it has

alterations of the dopamine system in the

brain because what you do is you. If you

tell them that when a light comes on,

they will get a reward. If they push a

lever, light goes on five second wait,

food. The impulsive rat can't wait for

five seconds. Wait, just got ill. Where's

my rewards exactly It's been. 3 seconds.

There you go. And you can find that about

10% of rats are very impulsive. And those

rats are interesting because they like

cocaine. You give them cocaine, they take

a lot more than the other rats because

they have a deficiency of dopamine. They

have an inherent deficiency of dopamine,

which this cocaine regresses exactly, so

it fits. Exactly with the human

situation. Well, The thing is when you

said that thing, like it made me laugh

out of identification that I know that

like from I remember from just when I was

a kid, if someone goes like, look, you've

just got to wait a little while, Russell,

but no way. Like it was inconceivable to

me to do that like a pain, like a roaring

existential pain that I would not

tolerate. And it's that

rat like reaction to drugs that makes me

one of the 10% of the population that

cannot use them recreationally.

After 11 years of using drugs, my

life was in chaos. I was broke,

in debt and unemployable.

Fortunately, I met John Knoll who

physically forced me to go to rehab.

There he is. Look. You

kept shooting that ball against my office

wall and I thought he's gonna be a real

annoying focker to work with. Yeah, but

he's good. And you were wrong about the

first thing, but you were right about the

second. And I guess it was that, Chris,

you're Christmas party and I was using

gear in the toilet and I was over the

foil and everything. People sat, mate.

Ohh, ******** knows that. Heroin. Ohh.

You got a bit of a problem, aren't you?

Do you know what? A roundabout? Yeah.

Because I couldn't stop. I knew I

couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop.

Really. We ganged up on you, didn't they?

You didn't then have a choice. I remember

this is the very chair actually that I

was sat in and like, you know. Get that

information. You're a drug addict. It's

serious for you. And if you don't stop

now, in six months time you're going to

be dead, in prison or in a lunatic

asylum. Do you want to come and

treatment? No way. And you went for that,

You're going with it. That was

the decision made, so you didn't really

have much of A choice. There weren't any

many options for you except getting on

the train to Bury St. Edmunds.

Focus 12 is a charity rehab. I first

entered this building in December 2002.

On Friday the 13th, ooh spooky Chip

Summers, the man who runs it, told me the

whole treatment process would take seven

weeks that was a lie it actually took 12

during this three months of. Well, they

tricked me into not using or drinking one

day at a time. I have your photograph

from a mission. You can see quite clearly

that you're starting. Is a person on

drugs? Yes. And dare I say it, gorgeous?

No, I think you look rather gaunt and

haggard. Actually. They look at the

really wild, very hooded eyes.

Arrived confused, vulnerable, erratic,

found it hard to stick to a

timetable still happening. You had gone

into a life of dependency and if

you'd carried on like that, the end

result of that lifestyle is really an

absolutely short existence. Although Chip

may look like a responsible bureaucrat

now. He's, in fact, a junkie.

He was a heroin addict for 18 years,

always in and out of prison, homeless for

seven years and three times ended up on a

life support machine. I think there's a

real attitude that you got yourself into

this. You know, it's your choice, you got

yourself into it, pay the price.

Actually, there's not a single person who

walks through that door who's set out to.

Be destroyed the where they are to become

addicted and dependent but whatever sort

of joking around that you did there was

within you a real dry you wanted to get

better. This is that the group room you

come in in the morning and have to write

your daily diary and those are a rotor

and stuff like people have to do jobs.

Contribute and that's what I like a lot

of it is it's like sort of I think it's

learning again to be have socially and

responsibly. I hated it. I hated that

thing to like the right you've got to do

this cleaning or something that off, but

it's really good for you to learn in

basic things. This garden is a lot better

than when I was here as well.

Drug addicts there that film then

throwing their anonymity compromised, but

a glance tells you we're talking about

scum of the earth.

It's weird because you know they're only

want to help you but like you still sort

of see them as adversaries because really

all you want to do is drink and take

drugs. The last thing you want to do is

like go ohh feel lonely and sad and I

don't know how to talk to people and I'm

angry and hurt and that they all they

want to do. We talk about that stuff the

whole time. They're bringing that up

consistently. And so it's like someone

prodding you in the most painful place

because you have to learn to deal with

that. Because if you don't learn how to

do with that stuff, it only have a

solution is to drink and take drugs. I

think only solution. This is the

R sand of the mollycoddling things like

art therapy. Ohh yeah they still do

art therapy here.

They said you give examples of how drug

addiction and alcoholism and behaviour

has hurt other people and you sort of

go, no, probably never. And there you go.

Ohh, no. My mum, I learned the impact

of my addiction on myself, the impact of

my addiction on the people that I love

and the likely. Consequences of my

continued using. I understood that for

the first time.

This very spot was where I sat when I

like after 12 weeks, like I would

graduated, terrified of leaving, of going

back to London, so grateful and happy and

overwhelmed by what? Because it was for

me like when you're a drug addict, the

idea of not taking drugs is

inconceivable. There's like such a. Found

spiritual change that takes

place because.

Series like this start to integrate as a

human being, all these things that you're

not dealing with, like initially comes to

the surface and it's terrifying and

settling and awful. So once you know,

it's the beginning of a lifelong journey

of doing things differently.

Staying clean one day at a time works for

me. The problem for addicts

in Britain today is that it's a treatment

that over 90% of sufferers cannot get

access to. There aren't enough

rehabilitation places.

I don't think abstinence treatment is

really regarded very highly. I think it's

seen as the kind of end of the road

for very extreme cases because the

argument is very much that, you know, we

have a response to the drug problem. It's

called methadone. Addicts like

these at Focus 12 have been prescribed

the legal drug methadone for years to

take every day as a heroin substitute.

About 10 years ago, it became the

government's main method of treating

addicts. What the government hoped was if

they gave addicts methadone, they'd

stopped committing crimes to get money

for drugs, and they'd also stopped

sharing needles and getting HIV. Which

is a nice idea. Also it's probably

cheaper. I was on methadone.

Thing is that ill mate, that's a long

time here. It's meant to reduce crime and

it's meant to reduce your addiction. But

come on, I'm an addict so I abuse that

just as much as you abuse drugs. It's

harmful, if not more harmful in my

opinion. It's worse, it's harder to come

off, it's more addictive, it gets into

your roots, you away. Of course, whatever

you like, patterns they say, but it costs

more money and it's not dealing with the

problem. You got a place like this, but

deals with it and deals with us.

Methadone, you go to chemist that go

here, I'll see you later and you walk

out. What else that for an addict over

the last 10 years the argument has been

put forward by the National Treatment

Agency that we are being successful. We

are keeping people off the streets, we

are maintaining them stably on methadone.

What are you going to do with every

single idea that comes along? Just park

them on methadone? And it doesn't

understand addiction either. If you're an

addict or an alcoholic, you want to get

completely stoned. You want to get

completely wrecked. You don't want to be

stable. Nobody starts on a **** up to

get stable and they they ohh I'm gonna

get this old ******** stable and I I'm

gonna sit there and laugh.

They want to get wrecked. Yeah. So to to

give them enough drugs, you either give

them enough drugs to get wrecked, which

is just ridiculous, or you don't give

them enough and they use on top. So you

know, and why are you colluding with

something that is such an incredibly poor

life decision on methadone? You've got no

chance of an outcome other than

somebody's still on methadone. But why

should we trust Ship Summers? Remember

those pictures of him doing heroin? He

runs a rehab and is probably biased.

Let's speak to someone who really

believes in methadone based treatment. A

proper Doctor Who prescribes it. This is

the technique that treats 90% of

Britain's junkies.

Claire Garuda is a GP and the chair

of the Royal Council of General

Practitioners. She's considered an expert

in drug treatment. She describes the

methadone as the gold standard.

I'm assuming this woman's a recovering

drug addict who gave a job out of some

sort of pity. So how it works, this

woman, she's still using intravenous

drugs. That's obvious. Well, it's

lovely seeing you. I don't wanna ever had

anyone like yourself. You have junkies.

Do you see a lot of patients with drug

users? They've locked patients and have

done over the years, and I know you took

for abstinence absolutely fine, but I

think actually keeping pace with some

patients, the vast majority of mine who

are on methadone do very, very well.

Methadone a drug, If you're on methadone,

you're on drugs. You know, so like, you

know, so that's for me, it's like just

rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.

But can I ask you a question? Yeah. Would

you say the same thing about someone on

Instagram for diabetic diabetes or

someone on a an antihypertensive

treatment for high for high blood

pressure? Why is it that we pick out a

medicine that's used to treat a disease,

but I also look after. Folk who have

been damaged from the day they left their

mother's womb, damaged, psychologically

damaged physically, damaged emotionally,

who end up making no friends, who who

drift into crime at a young age and

then drift into drugs. Now for those

patients, actually, they do need to be on

something long enough, secure enough. To

sort all the rest of the bits out. They

don't have the psychological awareness,

they don't have the the support in order

to do what you've done, which is make an

absolutely disagree with you doctor. What

I really want to be clear about this is

not an attack on you as you think you're

not at the moment, not a moment. Let me

come and talk. But there's an

institutionalized mentality around the

treatment of. Addiction that is not

helpful to addicts because you're not

addressing the underlying problem. I'm

not saying you as an individual, you're

doing a really good job. I'm just saying

that there needs to be an honest debate

and honest exchange of information and

that the objective has to be, I think

from the origin of the term to get

people's dependence free. So yes,

methadone is going to be a part of that.

But like, you know, you saying they don't

have the layers of support, Why don't

they have the layers of. Support. Why is

there not funding for the layers of

support? I would love everybody to live

drug free lives on nothing, but I've been

a GP long enough to know that that's not

possible. Large number of patients still

need opiate substitution treatment whilst

they sought out all the bits that were

missing as they were growing up and that

takes time. It's like putting a a plaster

around a broken leg. You put that plaster

around it so that it can heal underneath.

It does not put a plaster around a broken

soul is what it's like doing. I'm not

disputing what you're saying. I'm just

saying that we have to be more ambitious,

more compassionate that it's not that we

need to address this, this problem more

quickly. And I completely disagree with

you. I've seen extraordinary. Turn direct

people turn their lives around in

extraordinary ways. And I believe in

people and I believe in the possibility

of change. As long as people are taking

methadone, they're not going to address

those problems. They're not gonna be able

to address their problems of origin. I

think that is So what the people on

methadone, I cannot address this. So

patronising for you because you're not a

drug addict, are you?It doesn't make no

difference to me. The money, the fame,

the power, the sex, the women, none of

it. I'd rather be a drug addict. If I

didn't have my program, I'd be a drug

addict today. Like that in a second, I'll

walk. I know how to score around here.

Like I do it gladly. And the reason I

don't do it is because of the things I'm

talking to you about. And I know that

with methadone I'd be using on top like

most of the drug. Fix I know ohh I'm not

being patronising. I'm listening to you

on the stuff you know about but not on

the stuff you don't wish. I continue to

follow up my patience. So continue to see

them and to say that methadone destroys

their soul or whatever the comment you

you made, I think it does give them

access to the solution that they require.

It doesn't deter them from the solution

that they require. OK, then we have

to agree to disagree.

Before I spoke to that GP, I met a junkie

in the toilet drinking booze. Then I

saw her again as I came out. This woman

is on methadone. Is it working for her? I

see you're drinking some Kestrel there.

Drink every day. Let's take any other

jokes. Not going to lie, you're smoking

crack now again. But I was a heroin user.

Like my life. Yeah. I just would want to

skip last month. They

put me on e-mail, but in the last month

I've come through before. It is easy to

come after them, but it's very hard to

stay off them, really hard to stay still.

I think you shouldn't have anything at

all. Like not methadone, nothing,

nothing, no, nothing, none of this. No,

no, no. I'm wondering if you'd be. Well,

you know what the only thing is? Like 3

people. Actually give you the help after

you stop taking the methadone and stop

doing everything rather than just stop

prescribing your methadone and that's

that basically don't come and see me

anymore I can only sit in the same

company asset and everyday like without

being drunk or like I don't get high so

much No not going to lie like maybe if I

get a little bit of money I'll. Right,

right, but that's it. No, but they don't

give you. For me, this argument is at the

heart of improving treatment for addicts.

Substituting illegal St. drugs with

government backed legal drugs like

methadone is not moving addicts on.

In 12 years, I've been to 33 funerals

of either my friends or people who've

worked for me. Former

junkie Mark Johnson campaigns to persuade

people that methadone doesn't work. He

uses shocking photographs of addicts who

are all using on top of their methadone

prescription to make this point. Is

this an illness? And I think after seeing

an image, you know, showing the absolute

naked truth of what people do to change

how they feel, the extremities that they

go, I don't think can leave you with the

same preconceptions. She's pretty brutal

in it. Intravenous drug use in the neck

there. Yeah, that's a 22 year old seven

months pregnant. Ohh, no, that's not

good. I had a stray injected into her

groin. Is because she's like

she can't use her veins in her arm she

left veins are gone yeah 22 yeah, she's

used since she was 13 so.

That that's somebody's legs he's been

using for like 30 years.

Mark wants me to meet two of the women

who's been photographing. What are their

names, mate? Susanna and Karen. Both

women struggle with lives dominated by

crack and heroin use, as well as the

methadone that they've been prescribed

for years. When I went to get help, I

didn't want to go into a methadone

program. To me, it's like they're not

using it for what it's used for. Was used

to help you get off of heroin. You

understand me? Not to stabilise youth. In

20 years time you're still taking

methadone because you're not ready to

come off of it. You will never be ready

to come off of it. I believe in

abstinence based recovery myself because

it's what's worked for me. I've never

tried any type of recovery. So what's

stopping you from going to rehab right

now basically?Yeah, that's the only thing

that's stopping me. It's me. I'd love to

do that coming from methadone and heroin.

I hate you being on methadone and heroin.

I like to smoke crack. I'm not going to

lie. That's going to be hard for me to

stop. But then why don't you stop then?

I'm trying to stop, but it's just taking

so long. With that funding and like the

system, I don't think you can have any

drugs. Everywhere, because I think that

you both got addictive tendencies and if

you take any drugs at all, you won't

better control it. That's £25 worth, me

and Karen, but you can open it doesn't

bother me. That's half of £25 worth.

Me, my, I think I was probably at my

worst, you know, quite a day. Is that?

Ohh yeah, I wasn't. I was lucky, you

know. I've not seen

this for a while, you know, It's still

like, it's still like, after all these

years, after 9 1/2 years, I still think

most people are gonna cry, like like a

girlfriend or something. I'm not making

you edgy though, isn't it? It's making me

a little bit excited. Yeah, a little bit.

You know that you ain't going to go back.

No, I don't know that, actually.

I am. I want to stop that. You know, I

always think to myself that I'm going to

have to kind of be railroaded into it

because I know that if I give myself a

chance, I'll talk myself out of reasons.

But. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah. No, not so

much that. No, no, not so much that. I'm

saying, like, just responsibilities I've

got, like I've got a dog. No, seriously.

He came to detox with me the last time.

It's not an excuse me, excuse me because

I can take him with me. So is that an

excuse? I'm just saying that he's my main

stumbling block. I sat for seven months

in the program. Escobar. Escobar Esky.

What kind of dog is Escobar?

Staffordshire bull Terrier. He sounds

like an *******. He's a part staff, part

demon dog. But he's my baby. He's a

sweetie. We're making a documentary about

Karen. She's got a very serious dog

problem. Yeah. Ohh. She just can't give

up the dog one day a time away from it.

You ain't got a drug problem. You've got

a drug problem. They're like, I think

they'll deal with the drug problem. I

think the dog problem will take care of

itself. I'm not, you know, against the

idea. I really am not. I just, yeah, I

don't know why I haven't. I, I can't do

drug addict. And it's really, really,

really hard not taking just the worst

that could happen. I'll come out, I'll

get, you know, all into trouble again. So

I've lost nothing anyway. I might as well

have a go because I just because I might

as well. Yeah. Also like don't forget the

upside. The upside is that you have

tremendous potential as a human being

that you could realize. And somewhere in

you, you know that and recognize it. And

I know that that can be frightening, but

this is an opportunity to support start.

When could you go, ohh, God, wouldn't it

be heartening if like then when Karen's

now got six months clean and she's got a

tentative job and whilst it isn't always

easy, she's making incredible progress.

You know, it might be now Karen just

didn't ******** show up, you know, that's

like, you know, really, really likely.

But like what I felt she made me feel.

Very, very hopeful. Hanging out with him

too felt like something you remember in

such a powerful way. So it's not like I

felt like, oh, I'm going to tuck my life

off and live here and do gear with these

two. But they're it's more attractive

than you would think. It's more

attractive than you would think. Well,

mostly filled with titillation and

stimulation. Traction and excitement.

Only now do I think, wow, how lucky

I am that I don't have to live

my life defined by the acquiring and

using of drugs.

I believe that people like me with the

disease of addiction have to, one day at

a time, abstain from all substances,

including methadone or prescription

drugs. Otherwise we don't have the

opportunity to address the internal

incentives that are propelling us towards

drug and alcohol use.

Conveniently, I found an expert who

thinks exactly like me. Professor Neil

Mckegney is a world authority recently

given an award by the World Forum Against

Drugs for his research on a better drugs

policy for the 21st century.

We asked addicts what do you want to get

out of treatment? And predominantly they

said we want to become drug free. When I

started to tell people that was their

answer, that was regarded as an

incredibly unwelcome piece of research.

Was it? Nobody in the world of treatment

wanted to hear that. Predominantly

addicts in treatment wanted to come off

the drugs. Why?But because I think that

set a challenge to them. Are you helping

them to become drug free or are you just

making another drug available to them?

When we follow people up, when we ask the

question, well, if if the majority want

to become drug free, how many actually do

become drug free on the basis of the

treatment which they were given? Can we

do? It was tiny. After only three years

of treatment, it was less than. It wasn't

even in double figures, so over 90% were

still dependent on the drugs that they

had. They had been dependent on when

they'd come forward for treatment, only

now we'd added methadone to into the mix

as well, so they would dependent on an

additional drug. In fact, the number of

people who came off drugs after three

years treatment was lower than would have

been the case had they had no treatment

at all. It was pointless essentially.

That's the definition of pointlessness.

They might really took the money and the

methadone thrown out of a window here,

the same impact. Somebody has got to

challenge that orthodoxy that actually

says it's OK to deliver treatments which

we know are not working because at the

end of the day, who really cares that

much anyway because they're just drug

addicts. I spoke to one of the one of the

UK's leading proponents of the methadone

program. And he said to me, you know,

Neil, if my daughter was a heroin addict,

I would I would do everything and some to

get her into a residential rehab. I would

not describe her with methadone. And I

thought, well, disgraceful. All you're

saying then is that the person that you

would care about, you know what you would

get the people who you care less for.

They get something different.

Neil McKechnie just reinforced for me the

importance of getting an addict into

rehab since I met Karen and I stayed in

touch with her and talked to her about

rehab at Focus 12 with Chip. According to

my lovely mum, some lunatic woman who I

happen to live inside for nine months,

that was the. Element where everything

changed for me. You're happy I went in.

Focus isn't you, Mum. What was it like

when I was drug addict? Well, you're

helpless. You want your child to be happy

and they're depressed and and you look so

ill. Skinny, not particularly clean. Had

no pride in your appearance or how you

lived. It's heartbreaking is the mum,

when you've brought an innocent,

beautiful little child into the world to

see that happen.

Don't cry. I will. Yeah. And on that

bombshell, Mama love you. I'll come

around. I'll give you a quick huddle to

make her happy.

1st. But

every time I think about it, I

it just makes me want to run

away And and just I would use

or, I don't know, just like, yeah,

you're really beautiful woman. You know,

you've got beautiful hair, you've got

lovely features. Yeah, I can see it.

It's a brilliant step. And the most

important thing is you've decided to take

it.

Hello. Is that cheap? Yeah, it is.

You're right. I've been told that you're

coming into treatment. Yeah, that is the

plan. How long have you been using?

For? 18 years. Yeah. And. And what

And what's your current sort of daily

drug use? Methadone, 90 mil. About a

gram of crack. About half a gram of

heroin. So you're using a

lot. Yeah. So why do you want to stop

now? Because I've had enough. It The the

the drugs don't do anything to me anyway.

The methadone is just a pain in the ****.

Myriad other reasons, really. Right.

Yeah. There are more reasons to stop than

there are to continue. There aren't any

to continue. So apart from that. An

idiot. So, yeah, just relax a little bit.

You know, there is light at the end of

the tunnel. Yeah. It could be a train

coming in on the train. OK, we can work

it out between you and the lovely. OK

then. OK. Alright. Thank you very much.

Nice to speak to you. Bye. That's good.

Scary. Why do you feel right?

Yeah, Yeah, I do. 2 weeks

is bloody quick, but yeah, it

is quick, isn't it? No.

One of the strongest arguments for rehab

is that it takes the addicts out of the

community where their lives are falling

apart and gives them a breathing space to

reassess and hopefully move on.

Another place you think would be ideal to

achieve that is Britain's prisons,

because there are thousands of addicts

locked up inside.

Sniffed me and that's suspicious way.

I've got nothing to be afraid of.

Over 80% of the British prison population

are addicts or have substance abuse

issues, but only one in 10 get any

treatment other than methadone to break

their habit. The

Mount Prison in Hemel Hempstead, north

London, is one place where prisoners get

more than methadone. They run an

abstinence program inside. If we don't do

anything with them while they're here,

we're just going to block the problem up,

if you like, and then release the

problem. And we're just going to create

more victims. It's going to be constant

reoffending and they're just going to

keep coming back to. Reason for 70 odd

percent are going out and they're not

reoffending in the first two years.

They're getting into recovery Families,

you're changing people's lives and

breaking making a massive difference.

That's what happened to Nick in and out

of prison for crimes committed as a drug

addict until he became part of the

charity wrapped the rehabilitation for

addicted prisoners Trust. That wrapped

good acronym. That was eight years ago.

Now he runs the program here to help the

prisoners. Lot of people on this planet

experience obsession. Loads of people on

this planet, no doubt I'm making up, have

low self esteem, don't feel good about

themselves, might have a sense of

detachment. They're morals might run out

of the window. But what separates?Addicts

from the rest of the planet is that

once they start using, they cannot stop.

So how do we address that bit?

Don't use. OK, that's the easy bit.

You cannot get drunk unless you take

a drink. You cannot get high unless

you inject a drug. Ain't going to

happen. What do you think holds you

lot together? Strength or weakness?

Really. Thank you. It's your ability to

be vulnerable. It's your ability to drop.

All the bravado and reach out and ask for

help and be able to communicate when

you're feeling scared and lonely. Doing

that in a prison setting is really

difficult. But for you guys,

in order to do that, you're gonna need

support from each other. Probably quite

hard to confront some of the things that

you have to confront while undergoing the

Wrapped program. It's helped me to

understand why I didn't become an addict

at 17 when I when I suffered a

bereavement. I was an addict from. I was

2 years old. My manipulation started when

I was 2 years old. My control started

when I was three. You know, it's the

hardest. It's the hardest thing I've ever

done. I have to be very honest, very easy

because it's revealing and painful. Yeah.

You know something embarrassing? I've sat

in this room at times and felt like I was

sitting there naked, you know, just to

clarify. What goes on

there is a cult.

Only 60 prisoners out of 2000 in the

Mount get the chance of treatment like

this. And yet the success rate of staying

clean after they've completed the program

and leave prison is that almost half do

stay abstinent. That's really good.

Where I see it was only two things I

can't do in my life from now on. One's

other drink. The other is use a drug that

leaves infinite amount of possibilities

that I can do. I could live the rest

of my life on the breadline, but I'm

going to be happy because I'll be living

on the breadline clean and sober. I

still struggle every day. It's all

about renewing yourself. I'm not going

to preach to you Yeah Ephesians

423 bucking ill praise. You just

quoted me chapter and verse. You

constantly renewed of your mind meaning

having a fresh and mental spiritual.

That's good. It's like one day at a time

because, and this is what this is about,

I wanted it this time, I needed it. You

know, I've got children out there who

need me. My mum and dad want their son

back, they want their Peace of Mind. But

that's what I stole from them, their

Peace of Mind. I can sit here today.

So I'm clean. I've never been a

mouth clean. Next month I'm gonna be

a year clean. Imagine that after 22

years, being a year clean. Yeah, that's

incredible.

The odds are that when Bernard comes out

of prison, he'll stay clean. Good for him

and potential victims. But wraps

say they could be offering the same

prospect of 10 times the number of

prisoners at the Mount alone.

It seems that the cost of the program

would be more than offset by the

reduction in crime. These evolved

thinking pings around in the law

enforcing brain of Britain's chief of

police. I'm

going to say Chief Inspector,

Superintendent. Is that better? Chief

Superintendent Graham Bartlett. Chief

Superintendent Graham Bartlett.

Hello, Hello. Nice to meet you. Brighton,

until recently was the drugs death

capital of the UK. Tried putting that on

a mug. The way that we approach it here

is that most of our crime that involves

people stealing stuff. So burglaries, car

crime and robberies, acquisitive crime. I

didn't want to get into too much police.

Welcome back. Positive crime is generated

by people's need to get money to buy

drugs. I reckon probably about 80

percent, 80% of things that are getting

taken criminally is so people gonna talk

to us. That's always the case, though.

Was it? It's no it when when I was here

many years ago, was working as a

detective a lot of a lot of the crime.

Was based on sort of professional people

committing crime for because that's how

they make their living. But you know,

it's completely changed and it's, it's

all about drugs. But the sort of defining

moment for me was about 17 years ago.

There was a lot that I've known since I

was probably two or three grown up with

lost touch with it. About 15-16 really. A

friend of mine ended up getting into a

party scene, then ended up getting into

drugs, then ended up getting into

addictive drugs, ended up not having it,

losing his job because of it, having to

steal and then committing burglaries. And

he he'd been in and out of prison for

burglary. And this is something had a

comparable upbringing to you other than

he didn't wake up 1 morning. I'm going to

be a drug addictive burglar. It was an

accident that made him do that. And and

therefore, you know, I thought, well

actually it could happen to any one of

us. Graham Bartlett

decided instead of putting drug related

arrests into police cells and then

prison, they'd put them into treatment

here at a charity called CRI, the Crime

Reduction Initiative, Less good acronym.

If what we're trying to do is help people

stop using drink drugs, you need to treat

them decently and you treat me respect

you treat them as people you need, you

need to help people become part of the

community to become a because they they,

they come from our community. The reasons

people get into drinking drug use are

complicated and it's it's too easy to say

these people are criminals. They're

dirty, they're that that you know that

they're, they're, they're part of,

they're part of the community that we

live in. And if you, our approach is that

if you're part of our community will work

with you to help, you know, to make, to

help you become fuller parts of the

community. Brilliant way of thinking. Al,

what's your part in this caper? I'm a I'm

a hazard to my community really when I'm

out there. As soon as I see you for

Aloe is added to his community, this

bloke. How long was your drug addict? For

about 35 years. Ohh. You're committed

then. Yeah. Yeah. During that 35 year.

How were you funding your drug use?

Clearly you had a good job in the city.

OK. I was straight bummed for many years

and flitted through phases. Selling drugs

as well, which I thought I was a

bit of a gangster. Yeah. However, I'm

not. And yeah, so I just, I've just

done damage, really. I sold, I, I, I

funded other people's habits. Other

people fund funded mine. I'm really good

at taking them. And today I don't. I'd

rather my family robs your family. That's

not good family or anyone, anyone who

didn't get it at the lobby. I've

done what I need to do. Drug

dealing, violence, stealing from shops,

from cheese to clothes. Still at his

worst, Steve was stealing up to a

pound of red letter day. How do

you help each other?You know,

a whole bundle of feelings that some days

I don't know what to do with. So I'll

give Steve a ring. So look, because he

understands. I've been through treatment

with the guy. You go to Steve to talk

about your feelings. I do indeed. Yeah.

Steve, that's amazing. I've had a

feeling. Ohh. Yeah. What was your.

Amazing. And it works, You know it works.

This stuff works where you're abstaining

from drugs and alcohol, you've stopped

committing crimes. Ohh. It's drug use a

health problem? Or is it a crime problem?

Actually, it spans both, which is all the

stuff we've been talking about today. And

the treatment works to improve people's

health. And that gets your health gains

and it also there is a crime, there is a

crime reduction dividend to treatment.

Graham Bartlett told me that in the last

six years in Brighton, 500 addicts who

previously would have gone to prison have

instead gone into treatment. Between

them, they've been convicted of for about

21,000 crimes between them, which 500,

they're recidivists and they absolutely

are about four. They got about an average

of 40 crimes each and. If you, if

you apply a cost to that, it's about 27

and a half, £1,000,000, just those

people, that £527 million, yeah, just

those people, just what they've been

convicted of. So you made a massive

economic saving taking them out of the

game.

For every pound spent on treatment, Brian

takes 3 lbs on reoffending.

For the UK, with crimes by drug offenders

costing 14 billion a year, the savings

from this approach could be enormous.

I've got this philosophy that, you know,

uses users belong in treatment, dealers

belong in prison. If we can understand

that addiction is a physiological issue,

not necessarily what one that is going to

be solved by, by people being locked up

in prison and then we can stop and

committing the offenses that they should

be locked up in prison for.

We can do things differently in policing

and prisons that save money and lives.

Brilliant. This is the message I

want to take into Parliament, where I've

been asked to give evidence before the

Home Affairs Select Committee which has

been investigating how effective drug

treatment is in the UK. They've taken

evidence from all kinds of experts and

now they want to hear what chipper me

think from inside the problem X addicts

in recovery. This means I am a type of

expert. That amazing experience. What

is incredible is that it's 9 1/2 years

ago you were a mess and now still

a mess. But look how nice I look.

I know we're in Parliament. They've

invited us here. Yeah, we've not broken

here. 2 junkies have been invited into

Parliament. There you go. We're just a

couple of junkies. For

me, it is vital that more addicts get the

relevant information into recovery,

change their lives and become drug free.

Of course, Amy's death is tragic, but if

we use it as an opportunity to review and

reassess the way we treat addicts and

addiction and alcoholism in this country,

then it hasn't been entirely in vain. So

her death is sad. But it might not feel

so pointless. You're

a former heroin addict. Yeah. Briefly.

Could you tell us how you got on to

drugs and then how you managed to come

off it? I was like, sad, lonely and

happy, detached. And drugs and alcohol

for me seemed like a solution to that

problem. If you have the disease or the

illness of addiction or alcoholism, the

best. Way to tackle it is to not

use drugs in any form. Whether it's state

sponsored opiates like methadone or

illegal St. drugs or or illegal substance

like alcohol. We see no distinction

between these substances. What we believe

in is that abstinence based recovery is

the best solution for people suffering

from this condition. What was that? Brief

enough. Very brief, thank you. You were

arrested roughly 12 times by the graph.

Yes, that needs to be characteristic,

which is I don't think there needs to be

a carrot or a stick. Both of those things

seem like bizarre metaphors. I think what

they needs to be is love and compassion

to everybody involved. You need to people

who commit criminal behaviour. And it

needs to be dealt with legally, but you

need to offer them treatment, not simply

out of some airy fairy that's all old

hands and hug liberalism. No, but because

it deals with the problem and it prevents

further crimes being committed. Having

gone through addiction and then

rehabilitation, what is your message to

young people who want to get involved in

drugs? My message isn't for young people.

My message is for people that have this

condition of addiction, if you have the

condition of addiction, there is help

available for you. We need to start

regarding addiction in all its forms as a

health issue as opposed to a judicial and

criminal issue. That we need to change

the laws in this country and we need to

have more compassionate, altruistic,

loving attitude to the people with the

disease of addiction and recognize that.

These people with the proper help, access

to the proper treatment, can become

active and helpful members of society.

Like myself. Some would argue that point.

We need to offer them treatment and

activate them and incorporate them into

our society. So the message is ultimately

1 of pragmatism, altruism and compassion

in all areas of the condition.

That's great. Karen

has followed through on the chance of

going into rehab. She's just been

assessed that bogus 12 had the

assessment. What am I using? How much

methadone am I on? When I spoke to them

they said they were concerned because

like the amount of methadone you'll have

to go on to compensate for your when

you're not. Legal drugs

anymore, would it be really high and it's

going to take about 3 months to reduce

you. Well, what they, I I was reducing

down by 10 meals a week up until

last week. And was that No, Yeah, I

did, yeah. I spent a couple of days

crying, then another one. And for

everyone, I think that just shows the

direct relationship between taking drugs

and not feeling emotions and not taking

drugs and feeling emotions and therefore

the obligation. That is why people take

drugs. Yeah. Yeah. But I can imagine you

really clearly got off drugs. I can

really see you. I can see you competent

driving. Freestone heavier, living a life

sorted out, looking different. Yeah. I

mean, I can really, really imagine it for

you. That's the thing. That's the thing

more obviously than ever with anybody.

But like, you think you deserve to be

clean, Do you think you deserve to be

happy? I suppose that's what I'm asking.

I don't think you do think that you

deserve it. I

don't think anyone does who takes

drugs, you know, addictively.

There's loads of people that are going to

die if they don't stop taking drugs and

drinking. That sense that I had with Amy,

the sense of inevitability of it. So like

when they're sort of think of someone

like Karen, who's also a really, really

smart woman who's going to die if she

doesn't stop taking drugs, That's how I

see it.

Step away.

I'm dying. I'm dying.

You go back to her.

We only said goodbye.

You move back to her.