Earlier today Russell testified to the Home Affairs Select Committee who are currently conducting a review of UK government drugs strategy.
He shared his belief in the merits of abstinence-based recovery programmes and the compassionate treatment of addiction as an illness rather than a crime.
You can watch the entire session courtesy of Parliament TV
Learn more about the brilliant work of Focus 12 here
Well done Russell!! I am proud of you. I was watching earlier in tears as you spoke with such tenacity and caution. May there be a change for the best and more funding to abstinence therapy. Russell you are an inspiration. Xx
When you see someone turn there lives around so much there is something to admire about that. With the help of chip and focus 12 a lot of people are getting help. Addiction is a disease it isn’t something you choose to have for the hell of it. Sometimes, i wish people would try to be more understanding like chip and my doctor chris. Addicts can get better but it’s a long road when your taking small steps but u get to your destination eventually. Both russ & chip spoke elequantly today and i was proud of them x
Very well spoken and inspiring – great job, Russell.
Thank you so much for speaking out Russell.It can happen to anyone and it happens quickly. I’m a nurse who ended up using at the age of 40 through trying to help a user-a childhood friend whom I met up with when he was my patient at the local hospital.
I think I’m a good & decent person – I’ve spent my life caring for others. I even spent several years living in mud huts doing humanitarian work in African war zones.
But I have just been through 6 years of hell- unable to get off it because of the terrible physical withdrawal symptoms- unable to access help because then I’d never be able to work as a nurse again. After the first week or so, I wasn’t getting any high from it, just using in order to feel normal & well – keep the vomitting, diarrhoea, chills & pain at bay.
Depression due to the sudden death of my dad, & my mum’s cancer & subsequent death during this time only made things worse, and I used more to bury the pain. Heroin robbed me of precious time with them at the end, because I not only had I become unreliable, but I was too ashamed to be around them when they needed me most.
I was lucky not to have to resort to crime or prostitution in order to feed my habit, but I can see how anyone can end up in that position.
I have managed to get myself off it now after hitting rock bottom- completely broke, up to my eyes in debt & probably going to lose my house. It’s still early days for me and I’m still battling the psychological withdrawal symptoms. I’m strong enough to cope with those though-it was the physical illness that I found too hard to overcome for so long, even though I tried and tried. Since I came off it though, all the emotions that I buried under the opiate fog have come rushing back, and I’ve cried and cried.
I’m getting there though and it’s my pledge to try and help other people who are still going through it.
Thank you again for not forgotting what it’s like, and doing what you can to help those who are still held back by that monkey on their backs.
Much love
Shash x
We all love you and thank God your saying these wonderful words !!! Amazing people us addict nutters when we get sober and you just can’t shut us up !!! If you need me to star in your programe then for you Russell I’m available !!
I have to agree with Hitchins that very heavy legislation re cannabis probably would lead to a reduction, especially new users. But the hypocrisy is that he probably thinks it’s fine to go home and have a few stiff brandies! As a nurse, I’ve seen a lot more damage to health caused by alcohol than by cannabis! N.B. I’m completely abstinent now-no drugs or alcohol
Russell, that video was absolutely incredible. The whole “oh but the ones who get arrested over drugs seem to go on to do more crimes” is so stupid. obviously they’re going to
1) because as you said, they’ll do anything to get drugs
2) they get arrested, and their page is marked for the rest of their lives, finding a job more difficult, public see them as criminals…it’s not really going to inspire them to become a model citizen now, is it?
having been an avid listener to your podcasts I know that you must have been thrilled to get a chance to speak in parliament…i hope plans for your revolution are still underway haha.
love and compassion. you sir, are like a modern day jesus (this may be blasphemy…because that makes you a jilf in my eyes).
you spoke so well…i don’t even know you but i’ve been a fan for so long i just feel really proud. bloody well done.
I was truly heartened and inspired by your eloquent debate on drugs today. I have seen the harm drugs can do from a professional point of view and how the current system deal with drug users, it clealry doesn’t work but you and many others are living proof that positive rehabilitation works as long as it is followed through and followed up.
I found your argument that drug addiction should be treated as an illness to be the most powerful point and one that will no doubt set the rotweillers at the Daily Fail on a quest to have you cast into the sea and devoured by sharks but that for me is at the crux of the problem as it stands, we see addicts as bad people, when in fact it is what is happening to them that is bad and drives them to do ‘bad’ things.
Many GPs see alcoholism as an illness but cannot get their heads around the notion that people who take drugs are avoiding the physical withdrawal on a daily basis as much as the actual not taking drugs and therefore not getting high.
1000s of people here in the UK are addicted to painkillers and anti depressants but many GPs support this by continuing to prescribe, that too is a timebomb waiting to happen unless attitudes and treatment don’t change quickly.Many go on to abuse stronger drugs eventually.
Thank you for speaking out today and continuing to inspire and make people aware of these issues, we look forward to hearing more on the topic from you and Focus 12
I agree with Russell that addicts should be offered treatment ,and that abstinence is the desired method if able to be done, but absolutely disagree on decriminalization. Drugs, from cannabis to heroin, should be illegal with regard to producing, transporting, selling and using. The law should provide penalties for all, but with the addition of rehab for users. Making drugs legal, or decriminalizing them would probably make them more available, which would only lead to more people using them and possibly becoming addicted. Keep them illegal, enforce the law, but treat the addicts more humanely as Russell says. Not everyone has his strength, but nevertheless, rehab with possible abstinence is the only effective way to treat the addict by treating the underlying problems, not merely punishing the behavior.
Congratulations on your appearance at the committee, Russell and Chip. Great work.
Excellent stuff Russ. It’s so rare that we get the chance to hear the addict’s perspective delivered right where it matters, right where it counts, with such eloquence, tenacity, power, and wit. Well done. Fantastic job.
Have just watched Russell and Chip and heartily applaude both. I totally agree that addiction should be recognised as an illness. When I took my daughter to the Doctor he just said you need to stop drinking!
I have experience of Focus12 when my daughter needed rehab.She has now been clean for over 3 years and has recently started her own business.
Funding must be given to projects such as Focus12 to enable them to carry out their fantastic work. Not everyone can afford treatment so there must be funded places.
Carry on the good work Chip and Russell.xx
Well played sir, well played!
Beautiful words man, thank you yo you n chip for speaking the TRUTH, a rare commodity these days, THIS should be shown in schools nowadays instead of the same old scare tactics, and may your god bless you for doing this thang, RESPECT to you both and thank you for telling it like it is x
BTW As is probably clear from these messages and 1000s on twitter, we Rusty fans bloody LOVE YOU x x