Pubdate: Fri, 22 Mar 2002
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Sean O'Neill and Linus Gregoriadis
sSheet=/news/2002/03/22/ixhome.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

HOW MY THREE DAUGHTERS FELL INTO THE GRIP OF HEROIN

A WOMAN who watched helplessly as three of her four daughters became heroin 
addicts said yesterday that she was afraid the drug would kill her youngest 
child.

Theresa Dodd, a nurse, spoke of her despair, anger and pain over what has 
happened to her children, all of whom are now aged over 18.

Mrs Dodd and her husband, Charles, a senior partner in a London solicitors' 
firm, raised four girls and sent them to good schools in Tunbridge Wells, 
Kent, a place whose name is a byword for Home Counties' respectability.

That three of their children became trapped in the merciless cycle of 
heroin abuse and addiction is a fact they can still barely believe.

"I am so frightened, so frightened and so angry," said Mrs Dodd, a 
grandmother. "Not angry with anyone but just angry that there isn't 
anything anyone can do."

"I feel like a wrung-out rag. I am bleeding on the inside. You cannot see 
the blood but I am bleeding from distress."

Antonia Turner, one of her daughters, stopped taking heroin a year ago and 
appears to be on the road to recovery.

"When I look back to the time when I was a kid, I could never have imagined 
I would do anything like this," she said. "I don't think people realise the 
dangers of addiction until they are addicted themselves."

Another of Mrs Dodd's children is battling to stay off the drug but the 
family is most worried about Angelica, 21, the youngest daughter, who is 
living rough and begging on the streets to get her next fix.

Mrs Dodd said: "I really want Angelica to take herself forward and 
understand that what she is doing is really serious. I will never let go 
and never stop doing whatever I can to show how much I love her. I don't 
want to go to my daughter's funeral."

The recent publication of pictures of the body of Rachel Whitear(/A), the 
21-year-old student who died from a heroin overdose, prompted Mrs Dodd to 
seek help from other parents.

"I have seen a picture of the dead body and I fear being one of those 
parents who talks after her children's death. People keep saying 'Did you 
know what was happening?' but I really did not have any idea."

Mrs Dodd told BBC South East Today that there was a lack of support for 
parents like her, who struggled to know what to do when their children fell 
into addiction.

"I do get a lot of support from the Roman Catholic Church and from my 
friends because I am very open."

"But I really need to find the other mothers so that we can do something 
between us. There may be nothing we can do to stop our children being 
addicts but at least we can support ourselves."

Canon Michael Evans, parish priest of St Augustine's, who has helped Mrs 
Dodd, said that, despite its reputation as a place of middle class 
affluence, Tunbridge Wells had a serious drugs problem.

"I am afraid I don't think we are any different in Tunbridge Wells from any 
other part of the country in that respect," said Fr Evans.

"The young people of Tunbridge Wells know that drugs are easy to get hold 
of. That is not to say that all young people here take drugs but, perhaps 
in middle-class areas, the problem is worse because young people have money 
to buy drugs."

"The police and schools are aware of the difficulties and the challenge and 
are trying to address that. Schools all have drugs education policies."

Fr Evans, whose church hosts a Narcotics Anonymous group, said that, while 
there were programmes to support addicts, there was often little help for 
parents left wondering what had happened to their children.

"There is often a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. These 
high-profile cases of young girls have a great shock value but I'm not sure 
they deter addicts any more than pictures of damaged livers deter alcoholics."

Hugo Luck, regional manager for the National Treatment Agency, said drug 
addiction did not recognise social class boundaries.

"There is a growing amount of drug use, not just in the inner cities. This 
is a problem throughout the country, regardless of affluent activity. Some 
figures have suggested that the highest rates of use are amongst the 
higher-paid areas."

Tunbridge Wells has gained a reputation as a centre for recreational drug 
abuse. Kevin Lynes, a local Tory county and borough councillor, said last 
night: "Young people will tell you the town is somewhere you can get 
whatever drugs you want. It is seen as a drugs capital."
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MAP posted-by: Beth