A safe time in a safe place for drug users to reconsider their lives

4:01pm Monday 28th April 2008

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MAKING sense of the chaotic lifestyles of drug abusers is quite disturbing. A few hours spent in their company isn’t enough time to understand why people would want to live out such a precarious existence. But, here in Herefordshire, there are people reaching through the inner turmoil to help. Hereford Times reporter Anne Glover visits the Lifebuoy Rehabilitation Centre at Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye, to see one programme in action.

THE idyllic setting of a 15th century house on the Courtfield Estate, with walled gardens and a croquet lawn, is home to ex-offenders who have managed to become substance free and who are prepared to make an effort to belong to a more normal society.

But they struggle to settle into a new life of comfort with beautiful settings, homegrown food, farmyard animals and time to contemplate a future.

Implausible as it sounds, it’s not easy for some to leave their drug sanctuary and a life full of crime, cruelty and constant anxiety – most of these offenders have been misusing alcohol and substances for 20 or 30 years and addicition is a devil they have come to know and love.

Lifebuoy general manager and founder, John Cooper, has had nearly 30 people through his doors during the last three years and says most have had lives destroyed from a very early age through unimaginable physical and sexual abuse, neglect and extreme violence. They grow up scarred and unable to cope.

Mr Cooper, who was a policeman for 24 years, set up the trust to meet the needs of and provide for drug users who were perpetually in and out of prison.

“It occurred to me when I had to arrest a known drug user in 2000 and knew he was going to prison, that the same thing would happen again. “He’d do his time and, when he was released, he’d go right back to the same environment. He’d had 50 quid in his pocket, no bank or building society account, no licence, no passport, no identity, nowhere to go, so it wouldn’t be long before he was drawn back into the drug culture and the same cycle would start again,” he said.

The trust opened in 2005. It only accepts people who are not using illegal substances and who are on a detox programme. There is a zero-tolerance to alcohol and, as it is not a prison, residents are treated as adults who are free to make their own decisions.

“We offer a safe time in a safe place for people to reconsider their lives and have help with personal development and career choice,” added Mr Cooper.

“Drug users are all different. We have some who are very intelligent, with highly successful criminal careers.

“We don’t set a time limit for residency but we expect individuals to be ready to move on into their new life within six to nine months.” Rob, aged 38, the youngest from a family of six, was a heavy cocaine and alcohol user and, after serving a 21 months prison sentence for GBH, asked to go to the Lifebuoy Trust.

“I had been using drugs since I was 12 years old and I’m now basically brain damaged,” he said.

“Nothing seemed to stop me from taking drugs, even though I wanted to come off them. Quite often I would wake up the next day and not remember what I’d done the night before.

“My GBH could have been murder. I really battered a man badly and couldn’t remember it. “My stint in prison gave me time to think and reflect and I was devastated by what I’d done.” Lee, aged 28, has been taken drugs for 14 years and says, for the first time in his life, he feels safe.

“I was a heroin user and funded the habit by crime. The only way I can do this is to stay away from the environment I live in. I’ve lived in it all my life and it controls me,” he said.

In prison 18 times for drug related offences, Lee is making an effort to kick his habit. Like Rob he has lost his family and also knows it’s going to be one of the hardest roads he’s ever been on.

In prison on his detox programme, Lee was asked to write a letter to heroin and an extract here shows how it spirals out of control.

“When we first met there was definitely a connection and it was only meant to be a one-night stand but I fell in love with you and with your personality along with the rumours I knew my family wouldn’t approve so we had to go on secret dates...” He continues: “...after the first couple of dates, I was hooked on your loving and disregarded my family for your attention which led me to commit crime just to keep you happy and near me...” His letter ends on a bitter-sweet note: “...people opening my eyes to your wicked ways, I know it won’t work. “To be honest, I think it’s better if we never speak again, even if I see you briefly I need to walk without acknowledgement as this could destroy all my hopes and dreams for a better future...” He said: “I think a lot of people take drugs because of depression and low self-esteem. “Sometimes I don’t feel I belong anywhere and no-one cares but I’d really love to be able to do all those normal things that other people do.” Both Rob and Lee take heart from working close to nature, tending the vegetable garden and looking after the trust animals.

John is busy preparing a long-term business plan for the future development of the trust, which he believes will help people turn their lives around.

“It costs around £41,000 to keep someone in prison for a year - and half that cost to keep them here, with some very significant bonuses in keeping violence, crime and drugs off the street and helping people to change their way of life,” said John.

For more information on the Lifebuoy Trust call 01594 860185.