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
Thanks so much for an interesting blog. I’ve been hunting for this type of information for for ages now.
Hey Russell don’t know if you will ever read this but its the only way I can contact you. I wrote you a letter but I don’t know where to mail it. Anyway I agreed with a lot of your views on addicts but I disagree that methadone is a waste of time. I myself have been a smack head for 15 years and methadone has worked for me. I think the solution is rehab and methadone together. I know a lot of people who have done methadone and rehab and they are still using. So why not combine the two. An addict needs to be taken out of there normal surroundings to stand a chance of recovery, that is where the rehab would help and the methadone keeps the symptoms at bay. Once an addict gets into the routine of not using then they should be able to go back home and have a really good chance of recovery.
I’m an addict, always will be. Tried everything to stop, rehab, meetings, travelling, solitude, have lost and had everything over and over and still im powerless to drugs etc etc as I’m sure most addicts do, i keep fighting the addiction! contrary to comments made by a certain bureacrat, im not a selfish child, i am an intelligent 40 year old lady with great prospects, a career in the city, a loathing of my addiction and the will power to keep fighting my addiction as I see clearly the destruction it’s causing me and if I don’t keep battling that it will kill me! I see around me that most addicts haven’t even been able to see and comprehend addiction as well as I do yet armed with this knowledge I can’t just stop! I am doing a correspondence diploma to become a drug and alcohol counsellor, I’m half way through and have passed every assignment to date and despite this, I still struggle with my addiction! I support everything Russell is doing and would jump at the opportunity to get involved and help in any way I can! I’m sure he will be heard