13th September 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 29th August 2019 Bereaved families call for drugs to be legalised and regulated Public Events - Wales: Take Drugs Seriously
Friday 13th September - 7.00-9.00pm. St Peter’s Civic Hall, Nott Square, Carmarthen, SA31 1BA.
Friday 4th October - 7.00-9.00pm. Holy Trinity Church Community Hall, Newcastle Emlyn, SA38 9BX.
Friday 11th October - 7.00-9.00pm. The Guild Hall, Cardigan, SA43 1JL.
Public, press, voluntary organisations and politicians are invited to hear why bereaved families, police, doctors and treatment professionals are uniting to campaign for a new approach to drugs. Through sharing their own personal experiences panel members will explain how the legal control and regulation of drugs would protect families better than the structures currently in place.
The event will include a line up of international experts, including undercover drugs officer-turned-author Neil Woods, bereaved families, local MPs and drugs experts Rob Barker and Dr Judith Yates.
Free tickets available here:
Drug-related deaths in England and Wales reached an all-time high of 4359 in 2018. In Wales alone 327 people died, a 26% increase on 2017. Death rates from drug misuse in Wales are higher and rising faster than in most other parts of the UK and are significantly higher than in the rest of Europe.
To mark International Overdose Awareness Day on Saturday August 31st and to publicise the meetings, members of Anyone's Child in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion will be bearing witness and distributing leaflets starting at 11am outside Marks & Spencer in Carmarthen.
Pat Hudson - Anyone’s Child campaigner and Emeritus Professor at Cardiff University:
‘The extensive reading and research that I have done since my son Kevin died of a heroin overdose in Carmarthen in 2017 has led me to believe that current drug policies are killing our young people as much as the drugs themselves.’
Amanda Edwards - Anyone’s Child campaigner:
‘It’s like social cleansing at the moment… It’s true my nephew was not in work at the time he died but that doesn’t mean he was a worthless person.. there are so many stereotypes around people who use hard drugs (but)… it could be any family, it could be any child.
So seriously is the drug crisis regarded by politicians now that it is a manifesto policy of Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party to support change in the direction of legal regulation of all currently illicit drugs whilst both the Labour Party and the Conservatives have set up fact gathering groups to re-exmaine current policies.’
Neil Woods, under-cover police officer turned author
‘Illicit drugs markets are changing all the time. Never before has the big city influence been so great for county and seaside towns. If you want to understand what’s happening and what should be done about it, come and listen to what will be revelatory information to many people. I will discuss what it’s like from the front line of drugs undercover policing and why it’s important to stand alongside people from the Anyone’s Child campaign.’
Jane Slater - spokesperson for Anyone's Child said:
‘Come to hear what our speakers have to say, because the drug laws can harm anyone’s child. Keeping drugs illegal isn’t keeping our children safe, it’s putting them in danger. Our voices must be heard and our politicians must listen. We need to put governments in control of the drugs market, so that families are better protected.’
A Question and Answer session will follow the speakers.
This is a free charity event.
ENDS:To arrange interviews with the speakers please contact:
Jane Slater, Manager Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control 07852 272 220 or call 0117 325 0295
Notes to editor
This is a public event hosted by Transform Drug Policy Foundation.
Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control is a campaign of Transform Drug Policy Foundation, a charity working for the legal regulation of drugs. Anyone’s Child is an international network of families whose lives have been wrecked by drug prohibition and who are now campaigning to end it. http://anyoneschild.org/
Read more about how the drug war harms young people: https://bit.ly/2KM7CoJ
