You have just given birth to your precious child. There is truly no greater experience on unconditional love. Nothing prepares you for that moment when your heart seems to expand infinitely and you pledge that there’s nothing you wouldn’t do to ensure this child has a long and happy life. You’d die for him.

Let’s fast track this picture a few years, your child is now 15, he’s been diagnosed with a learning disorder. No one in the school system really knows what to do with him. You move schools. He starts upping his Ritalin dose, assuming that if one tablet makes him feel better, then ten will be better still.

Unbeknownst to you he also struggles with depression. He tries amphetamines. He starts using regularly. He starts stealing. He stops going to school. He has psychotic episodes. He’s too young for rehab and the health system can’t deal with him because of his drug dependency. He is out of control and likely to fall in the hands of the juvenile justice system. He becomes abusive and violent at home and your other children start to suffer because of it. In fact your twelve year old is already smoking pot.

Your marriage starts to break down. You feel reluctant to share your situation with friends. You seek the support of counsellors and drug referral agencies and are constantly reminded of the ‘tough love’ concept. Walk away. Break off contact. Stop supporting your addict child. Let him hit rock bottom. But he’s only 15. He’s an addict, but he’s still your precious child. How does any parent ever truly walk away?

Family Drug Support is an agency that provides services for families with drug dependent loved ones outside of the ‘tough love’ model. They recognise that families are the most important source of support and are the experts when it comes to their drug dependent family member. When families stay in touch with their drug dependent loved ones, there is a higher rate of successful outcomes.

Family Drug Support has been gaining a foothold in drug-affected communities, providing real support for those who are often in what one can be perceived as both a helpless and hopeless situation. Theo Chang is the local representative of Family Drug Support and believes the North Coast of NSW is notorious for its drug use and it could really benefit from a regular family drug support group.

‘One of the things we know about Byron and its surrounds is that there is not a lot of support services and people are quite jaded.’

As a loved one of a drug dependent, you are constantly advised to step back and allow the addict to hit rock bottom.

What is rock bottom? For some, it’s living in squalor and filth. For some,that doesn’t make a difference.

We are about harm minimisation. Harm minimisation is really how to support the people that you love in a positive way so that when they reach the stage they want to change they have a positive environment to do so. It can be a matter of keeping them alive.

We don’t have any solutions. We don’t have any formulas. Families ask themselves the same questions: Should I be doing more? Am I so involved that I am part of the problem? There is no right or wrong. Parents do the best they can with what they have at that particular time. You can’t take the guilt and punishment away from people. No parent wakes up one morning and thinks, I want to stuff up my kid’s life.’

Family Drug Support is not focused on rigid approaches; it endorses whatever works for a particular family. ‘We want to keep people connected,’ says Theo. ‘Above all this we don’t condone drug use, but we accept the reality of drugs in families. Abuse should not be tolerated. The connection is so important; we can stay connected. Even with an AVO.

‘If your decision is for them to stay out of the home, you can still do it with love. You are basically saying: I don’t want to be abused anymore. But can we meet up once a week and have a meal?

On one side, there will be a family that says there can’t be drug use in the house. On the other hand we’ll have someone who has set up a room, gets clean needles, buys the heroin. There is no right or wrong. The family that is perceived as doing something illegal and immoral has already lost two kids on the street tooverdose. So what do they do?’

Drugs do not discriminate. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do or where you live, drug use in families,regardless of socio-economic background, is a reality. The only difference between your family and others is how you and those around you cope and seek support. ‘There is no doubt there is greater access to drugs and it may be normalised for our teenagers to a certain extent,’ says Theo. ‘The fear and anxiety that a family feels has not lessened.’

If you have a drug dependent loved one in your family and are struggling to come to terms with the stigma and shame, contact Family Drug Support on 1300 368 186.

Former royal commissioner and inaugural National Crime Authority chairman Don Stewart says attempts to deal with the growing illicit drug problem through traditional law enforcement methods have failed.

The retired judge, who headed a royal commission into drug trafficking in Australia in the 1980s, says illegal drug use should be treated as a public health issue.

‘I have slowly come around to the point where I believe the handling of it in a criminal way is never going to work,’ Mr Stewart told The Weekend Australian. ‘Punitive measures will not work. We can’t go on the way we are.’

In a book to be published next week, Mr Stewart says the five years he spent as a NSW District Court judge before retiring in 2003 had convinced him illicit drugs were ‘a problem of gigantic proportions’.

‘The use of such drugs has become part of our culture, particularly among young people who treat such use as the norm,’ he says in the book. ‘Prohibition of alcohol didn’t work in America, why should prohibition of other drugs that people want work anywhere else? ‘All sorts of solutions are put forward, but as more and more experienced people recognise, there cannot be total elimination, only reduction.’

As a royal commissioner, Mr Stewart carried out the first detailed examination of drug trafficking in Australia, including the operations of the notorious ‘Mr Asia’ drug ring. As chairman of the NCA he travelled around the world looking at law enforcement strategies in the war on drugs. He found that Britain and France admitted to stopping only about 10 per cent of illegal drugs crossing their borders.

In an interview to mark the release of his autobiography, Recollections of an Unreasonable Man – From the Beat to the Bench, Mr Stewart said he had no reason to believe Australia was any more successful in stopping illicit drugs entering the country.

Governments were afraid to move away from the law enforcement approach to illegal drugs because‘people feel safer leaving it the way it is’, he said

Mr Stewart said he had become a ‘great fan’ of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, headed by Alex Wodak, which was helping lead the way in detoxification programs. ‘I am as convinced now that the medical solution is the only way forward as I was once convinced that the criminalisation approach was best approach,’ he said.

Mr Stewart’s book claims that the NCA ‘lost most of its clout and had lost its way’ before it was succeeded by the Australian Crime Commission in 2003.

The Democrats today made a pitch for those with the dual diagnoses of drug use and mental illness saying they were being refused help in the health system. ‘It’s time for a ‘no wrong door’ policy to reduce the often life-threatening effect of drug use and mental illness,’ said Democrats Leader, Senator Lyn Allison. ‘At least half of the people who have drug or alcohol addictions have an underlying mental-health problem that should be treated at the same time but many are turned away.’

The 2006 Senate inquiry into mental health found that joint mental health and drug problems should be the expectation, rather than thought of as the exception. It recommended merging of drug and alcohol and mental health strategies.

The Democrats called for:

• Community based mental health centres staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses with expertise in co-occurring substance use and mental health problems

• Training for all drug and alcohol workers and mental health professionals in screening

• Specialised environments in hospitals

• Much more supported and crisis accommodation

• More support and respite for families and carers dealing with these co-occurring problems.

‘It is heartless to have people bounced from service to service and getting no service at all and it happens because services are stretched and it is too easy to turn away people who have complex needs on the pretext that their ‘other’ problem must be dealt with first,’ said Senator Allison.

Retired judge Jerry Paradis and retired police officer Tony Smith believe that drugs are not as problematic as the money spent to combat them.

On Saturday, Nov. 3, both men spoke to an almost full auditorium at Chatelech Secondary School about their beliefs.

Moderated by CBC Radio’s Mark Forsyth, the event was brought to Sechelt by Capilano College’s Eldercollege program as part of a free public speaking forum presenting diverse topics for community dialogue. Paradis and Smith explained to an audience of mostly older adults how their experiences within law enforcement and the justice system in dealing with the outcomes of alcohol, drug addictions, crime and the ineffectiveness of the current war on drugs have fuelled their belief that prohibition is a costly and ineffective way to fight illegal drugs.

Both men are members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) an American organization with a membership of 8,000, comprised mostly of former judges and police officers.

Unlike municipal departments, Smith said the RCMP is funded by money through the federal law enforcement program. ‘People fear drugs, but something to fear far more is alcohol,’ Smith said. ‘From late night accidents to riots – these can all be blamed on alcohol. You never hear of a coke riot or a pot riot or even a crack riot.’.

Before becoming a judge in 1975, Paradis spent nine years as defence council. He said through his experiences, the current approach to drugs was absurd. ‘The first duty of a government is the health, safety and security of their citizens,’ said Paradis. ‘The war on drugs and the massive amount of money being spent fighting drugs and not getting anywhere is a government that is not fulfilling its duty to its citizens.’

Both Paradis and Smith said their main message is that Canada’s Americanized approach to fighting drugs hasn’t worked in the U.S. and isn’t working in Canada – evidenced, they said by the current rate of drug-related violence. Both men believe simply decriminalizing drugs isn’t enough. There has to be legalization, taxation and control by making the drugs available in a monitored context.

‘Crystal meth doesn’t kill,’ said Paradis, adding he doubted very much that there would be a rise in the use of drugs like crack cocaine, heroine or crystal meth if they were suddenly legal. ‘If people aren’t doing the drugs now, they won’t do them just because they can.’ ‘Crystal meth is practically identical to the Ritalin people give their kids now . the problem is that it’s smoked,’ added Smith.

Sechelt Indian Band member and school district trustee Lori Dixon, who was in the audience, said she was ‘frightened to hear their views.’ Dixon said she’s seen the destruction wrought in her community by alcohol and by both legal and illegal use of drugs – a devastation she said isn’t experienced only by First Nations people, but by many marginalized people and new immigrants as well.

‘I have a problem with your talk about legalizing drugs,’ said Dixon, adding one of her major concerns was their lack of mention to any policies around legalizing drugs.

‘I’m not here to propose policy,’ said Paradis. ‘The way we’ve handled the situation so far hasn’t solved any of those problems.’

Dixon interjected that she couldn’t imagine how much worse the situation would be if drugs were readily, easily and legally accessible. Neither Paradis or Smith were able to provide details on what they thought the outcome might be if the first step in their fight against prohibition was legalizing drugs before well funded supports, addictions services and programs were firmly in place.

S. Douglas, Coast Reporterl (9/11/07)

F. H. Cardoso, C. Gaviria &
E. Zedillo, Wall St Journal (23/2/09)
The war on drugs has failed. And it’s high time to replace an ineffective strategy with more humane and efficient drug policies. This is the central message of the report by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy we presented to the public recently in Rio de Janeiro.

Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven’t worked. Violence and the organized crime associated with the narcotics trade remain critical problems in our countries. Latin America remains the world’s largest exporter of cocaine and cannabis, and is fast becoming a major supplier of opium and heroin.

Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs. Over the last 30 years, Colombia implemented all conceivable measures to fight the drug trade in a massive effort where the benefits were not proportional to the resources invested. Despite the country’s achievements in lowering levels of violence and crime, the areas of illegal cultivation are again expanding. In Mexico – another epicentre of drug trafficking – narcotics-related violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past year alone.

The revision of US-inspired drug policies is urgent in light of the rising levels of violence and corruption associated with narcotics. The alarming power of the drug cartels is leading to a criminalization of politics and a politicization of crime. And the corruption of the judicial and political system is undermining the foundations of democracy in several Latin American countries.

The first step in the search for alternative solutions is to acknowledge the disastrous consequences of current policies.

Next, we must shatter the taboos that inhibit public debate about drugs in our societies. Anti-narcotic policies are firmly rooted in prejudices and fears that sometimes bear little relation to reality. The association of drugs with crime segregates addicts in closed circles where they become even more exposed to organized crime.

In order to drastically reduce the harm caused by narcotics, the longterm solution is to reduce demand for drugs in the main consumer countries. To move in this direction, it is essential to differentiate among illicit substances according to the harm they inflict on people’s health, and the harm drugs cause to the social fabric.

Norm Stamper PhD is a tall distinguished looking gentleman, quite unlike your stereotypical Hollywood cop. And he has a somewhat more subtle sense of humour, too. Norm was police chief in San Diego, California for 28 years and for six years in Seattle, Washington, and is in Australia at the invitation of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation.Amongst many other meetings he addressed a sell-out audience at the Sydney Opera House on 4 October.

Dr Stamper is a leader of LEAP [Law Enforcement against Prohibition] in the US and author of Breaking Rank – A Top Cop Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing. In 1967 as a young officer he had to forcibly enter a private house and arrest a sixteen-year-old boy for possession of cannabis. As he drove him to the police station he reflected on how he was ruining the boy’s life, and how his time would be much better spent on more serious police work: this event he describes as his epiphany, which has stayed with him all his life.

In the US Norm, as the spokesman for LEAP, attempts to change the mind-set of influential people towards decriminalising drug use and viewing drug usage as a normal part of life; the money thus saved from the futile policing and customs efforts could then be directed towards the treatment of drug abuse.

A trillion US dollars have been spent trying to eliminate drug use with little positive benefits and huge negative effects both in the US, neighbouring countries and because of US influence, worldwide. Australia spends an estimated A$4.7 billion annually.

The so called War on Drugs in the US began with Richard Nixon in 1971. He was casting about for a slogan to go with a policy during an election campaign, but literally had no idea how to proceed after he won the election. Since that time the most common reason for arresting young Americans has been for non-violent drug offences.

Millions have been jailed, with often devastating effects on themselves and their families. Norm says this has driven a wedge between police and otherwise law abiding Americans.‘Police need a partnership with the community’, he said. ‘Now there’s a widespread sense the police are there to do things to people rather than for people. He said the war had encouraged bad behaviour by police, ranging from illegal searches to involvement in the drug trade, further undermining public trust in law enforcement.’‘US conduct of the War on Drugs overseas had harmed the police there too. In Mexico it has led to massive corruption and thousands of killings by members of drug cartels. Many of the victims are police officers, who are often tortured and beheaded.

Essentially, honest police in Mexico have a choice: they can co-operate with the cartels or they can die. This is a direct result of the prohibition model and the US drug war.’Norm thinks drugs should be decriminalised and regulated in a similar manner to alcohol. He believes that at no stage since 1971 has it even looked as if the war on drugs had been won. ‘Every once in a while someone in government has claimed progress, but they’ve been wrong.

The immutable law of supply and demand will continue to work its magic for ever. Purity and prices will fluctuate, people’s behaviour will fluctuate, but there has never been any point in the drug war when we’ve come close to winning. It’s unwinnable, and it’s immoral.’

Footnote: Recently published Australian statistics show that popular illicit drugs are either easy or very easy to obtain in our major cities. And prices have been similar too. Surprised? Don’t be; it’s been that way for many years.

Of all the noteworthy reasons offered for putting an end to the ‘War on Drugs’, the one that surely gets the least play is this: people like their drugs and don’t appreciate the Government telling them they can’t have them. Only a tiny fraction of drug-policy reformers trot that one out at conferences or in opinion pieces. Even some doctrinaire libertarians choke on the sentiment. We have to draw the line somewhere, they say.

What message does adult drug use send our youth? An important question, to be sure. But we might want to ask ourselves what message we’re already transmitting to young, impressionable minds. We’ve told our kids that cannabis is a ‘gateway’ drug. Smoke it and you’ll surely wind up face down in a urinesoaked alley, a needle sticking out of the collapsed vein in your arm. We’ve told them, by the very act of repealing alcohol prohibition in the United States 76 years ago, that booze is safer than pot. We’ve told them that those who use drugs are criminals, and those who become addicted are ‘junkies’ or ‘dope fiends’. We’ve told them to ‘just say no’, surely inoculating them and their friends against any foreseeable drug use.

The problem is that so much of what we’ve told our children is a lie. And they know it.

Are drugs dangerous to kids? You bet they are, starting with the certifiably authentic ‘gateway’ drug of nicotine.

Dear Tony and all my dear FDS friends,

It was 10 years ago on Friday that my Stephen died, which means it is also 10 years that I’ve been associated with FDS. Sometimes those 10 years seems like a lifetime and at others like the blink of an eye, but I am still amazed that my family and myself survived what felt at the time like something that we would not.

I have read your new book and feel happy in the thought that my family and myself have moved onto what you rightly defined as a grief where there is still pain and loss but that it doesn’t stop us from living.

We came together for the weekend and spent it as a family – eating, drinking, remembering, laughing, crying – but yes – living. We visited the memorial at the crematorium, the beach here we scattered Stephen’s ashes and the FDS memorial at Byron Bay. We left flowers at each – even nephews too young to have met Stephen, chose flowers to leave for ‘Uncle Stevie’, whom they knew all about. Stephen’s death has not excluded him from our lives or family.

I was introduced to FDS by a doctor in Nimbin who treated me first after Stephen’s death and although I have been a member for 10 years and attended a couple of memorial services, it was only two years ago that I finally did the ‘Stepping Stones’ course in Mullumbimby.

I believe this course changed my life. It gave me closure on and sense of acceptance of Stephen’s death. It especially gave me a deep sense of understanding of what was happening in my life before Stephen died that helped restore my sense of worth.

I am proud to be a founding member of the Byron Bay FDS group and although I don’t attend all the time, I go whenever I can to lend my ears and an open mind and heart to whoever needs it at the time.

My only regret is that I didn’t know of the wonderful FDS Association before Stephen died. I know it probably wouldn’t have changed his journey but know it would have made my own less fearful and lonely.

Thank you Tony.
Thank you Theo.
Thank you all at FDS.

Thank you Stephen for all the love that always was and will always be there.

Cath Marshall

Dear Tony,

I was indeed very touched to receivethe copy of your book Not My Family, Never My Child, which addresses with great sensitivity an all-too-common problem across all sectors of our society today.
The fact that you were prepared to share the very personal and traumatic experiences which yourself, your family, and your beloved son Damien have faced, distinguishes you as a most courageous and generous man.

Through you initiative in establishing Family Drug Support, and now through this valuable book, greater understanding will grow across the wider community, challenging each of us to think more deeply in our responsiveness, particularly in regard to the beautiful young people whose risk is high.

I have already commenced reading your words and I am deeply moved by the combination of eloquence, pragmatism and care.

I greatly appreciate this generous gift, and send my warmest good wishes in your fine endeavours in this ever difficult challenge.

Yours sincerely,

Marie Bashir AC CVO
Governor of New South Wales

I destroy homes. I tear families apart.
I take children and that’s just a start.
I’m more valued than diamonds, more precious than gold.
The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.
If you need me, remember, I’m easily found.
I live all around you, in school and in town.
I live with the rich, I live with the poor.
I live just down the street, and maybe next door.
I’m made in a lab, but not one like you think.
I can be made under the kitchen sink.
In your child’s closet, even out in the woods.
If this scares you to death, it certainly should.
I have many names, but there’s one you’ll know best.
I’m sure you’ve heard of me. My name is Crystal Meth.
My power is awesome. Try me. You’ll see.
But if you do, you may never break free.
Just try me once, I might let you go.
Try me twice and I’ll own your soul.
When I possess you, you’ll steal and you’ll lie.
You’ll do what you have to, just to get high.
The crimes you’ll commit for my narcotic charms
Will be worth the pleasure you’ll feel in my arms.
You’ll lie to your mother, you’ll steal from your dad.
When you see their tear, you must not feel sad.
Just forget your morals, and how you were raised.
I’ll be your conscience. I’ll teach you my ways.
I take kids from parents. I take parents from kids.
I turn people from God. I separate friends.
I’ll take everything from you, even your good looks and pride.
I’ll be with you always, right by your side.
You’ll give up everything. Your family, your home.
Your money, your friends, you’ll be all alone.
I’ll take and I’ll take till you’ve no more to give.
When I finish with you, you’ll be lucky to live.
If you try me, be warned – This is no game,
If I’m given the chance, I’ll drive you insane.
I’ll ravage your body. I’ll control your mind.
I’ll own you completely. Your soul will be mine.
The nightmares I’ll give you when you’re lying in bed,
And the voices you’ll hear from inside your head.
The shakes, the sweats, the visions you’ll see.
I want you to know, these are your gifts from me.
By then it’s too late, and you’ll know in your heart,
That you are now mine, and we shall not part.
You’ll regret that you tried me. They always do.
But you came to me, not I to you.
You knew this would happen, many times you were told.
But you challenged my power and chose to be bold.
You could have said ‘no’ and just walked away.
If you could live that day over, now what would you say?
I’ll be your master, you will be my slave.
I’ll even go with you when you go to your grave.
Now that you have met me, what will you do?
Will you try me or not? It’s all up to you.
I can show you more misery than words can tell.
Come, take my hand and let me lead you to hell.

Anonymous

This was written by a young Indian girl who was in jail for drug charges, and was addicted to meth. She wrote this while in jail. As you have just read, she fully grasped the horrors of the drug, as she tells in this simple, yet profound poem. She was released from jail, but true to her story, the drug owned her. They found her dead not long after, with the need still in her arm.

‘The U.N. has stated that drug control must be carried out while respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms,’ said Rebecca Schleifer, advocate with the Health and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, in a press release. ‘But governments all over the world commit egregious human rights abuses in the name of drug control. Not only are these abuses horrific, they also undermine efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.’

As the U.N. marks the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, it should be aware that efforts to control the use and trafficking of drugs are denying drug users vital services aimed at
preventing HIV and AIDS, said Human Rights Watch, the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, and a group of more than 400 leading HIV, public health, and human rights organizations.

The letter urges the U.N. to ‘speak with one voice’ and promote rights based drug policies, stating that protecting the human rights of people who use drugs is a prerequisite to effective HIV and AIDS programs.

According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, nearly one third of all new HIV infections outside of Africa are due to injection drug use. U.N. member states have committed to providing ‘universal access’ to HIV prevention, care, and treatment by 2010. Yet contradictions between U.N. approaches to HIV and AIDS, grounded in public health and human rights protections, and U.N. drug control policies, which focus on punitive measures, undermine efforts to provide HIV and other public health services to people who use drugs.

Member states often mark the U.N.- sponsored anti-drug day with drug seizures, executions, arrests, and imprisonment of alleged drug users to showcase their drug control efforts. But harsh drug enforcement policies
undercut HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support for people who use drugs. Laws or policies that deny key harm-reduction interventions, such as methadone replacement therapy and access to sterile syringes, put people who use drugs at unnecessary risk of HIV. Crackdowns and increased enforcement targeting people who use drugs create a climate of fear for drug users, driving them away from lifesaving services.

In recent years, for example, China has marked June 26 with public executions of drug users. In 2002, the government carried out 64 public executions across the country, the largest of which was in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where 24 people were shot. Amnesty International recorded 55 executions for drug offences during the two-week period before June 26, 2006.

In Thailand, anti-drug campaigns -- including its brutal 2003 ‘war on drugs,’ which resulted in more than 2,500 extrajudicial killings, and the April 2008 launch of a new ‘war on drugs’ -- have driven many people who use drugs away from effective HIV prevention and AIDS treatment, out of fear of arrest and police violence.

‘Thailand has acknowledged that the HIV infection rate among people who use drugs is ‘unacceptably high’ and its official policy is to treat drug users as ‘patients’ not ‘criminals,’ said Paisan Suwannawong, director of the Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group. ‘But in reality, police collect information about drug users from health clinics. And the government’s decision to revive the drug war has made many people who use drugs afraid to seek public health services that are theirs by right.’

Russia is facing an explosive HIV epidemic, driven largely by unsafe injection drug use. But Russian law explicitly prohibits the use of the most effective and best researched treatment approach for opiate dependence -- methadone or buprenorphine maintenance treatment. Although U.N. agencies strongly endorse the use of these medications as an integral part of HIV prevention and treatment programs, top Russian health and law enforcement officials oppose them.

‘Methadone is critical for treatment of opiate dependence as well as to prevent HIV for people who use drugs,’ said Vitaly Djuma, executive director of the Russian Harm Reduction Network. ‘Denying this medication to people in need is like sentencing them to serious suffering or even death for injection drug use.’ ‘We will not achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment without protecting the human rights of people who use drugs,’ the letter warns.

The letter calls on governments and the U.N. system ‘to recognize that good AIDS policy requires sound drug policy -- measures that address the drugs problem without impeding access to lifesaving HIV services.

When things go wrong, so often we find fault in ourselves. Resilience is the heads side of the coin. We cast around for ways and means within our power to fix the problem. When all our efforts to put things right fail we tend to blame ourselves. This is the tails side. Flipping from the energy of action to the despair of failure is a familiar dynamic when someone gets in too deep with drugs: it is a dynamic that affects both the young person who uses and her family. Sense of failure, shame, depression, stigma and isolation are so often the bitter harvest.

This is the landscape in which Family Drug Support intervenes so effectively. It holds out no quick answers. Through teaching insight into how to cope with the reality, it resurrects hope through another dynamic: by changing what we have control of – ourselves – we promote change of those around us.

The deep rooted inclination to shoulder the blame means that it generally does not occur to families that what governments are doing may be contributing to the suffering that they themselves are going through. Indeed, politicians rely on this.’

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus. Aenean viverra malesuada libero. Fusce ac quam. Donec neque. Nunc venenatis enim nec quam. Cras faucibus, justo vel accumsan aliquam, tellus dui fringilla quam, in condimentum augue lorem non tellus. Pellentesque id arcu non sem placerat iaculis. Curabitur posuere, pede vitae lacinia accumsan, enim nibh elementum orci, ut volutpat eros sapien nec sapien. Suspendisse neque arcu, ultrices commodo, pellentesque sit amet, ultricies ut, ipsum. Mauris et eros eget erat dapibus mollis. Mauris laoreet posuere odio. Nam ipsum ligula, ullamcorper eu, fringilla at, lacinia ut, augue. Nullam nunc.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus. Aenean viverra malesuada libero. Fusce ac quam. Donec neque. Nunc venenatis enim nec quam. Cras faucibus, justo vel accumsan aliquam, tellus dui fringilla quam, in condimentum augue lorem non tellus. Pellentesque id arcu non sem placerat iaculis. Curabitur posuere, pede vitae lacinia accumsan, enim nibh elementum orci, ut volutpat eros sapien nec sapien. Suspendisse neque arcu, ultrices commodo, pellentesque sit amet, ultricies ut, ipsum. Mauris et eros eget erat dapibus mollis. Mauris laoreet posuere odio. Nam ipsum ligula, ullamcorper eu, fringilla at, lacinia ut, augue. Nullam nunc.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus. Aenean viverra malesuada libero. Fusce ac quam. Donec neque. Nunc venenatis enim nec quam. Cras faucibus, justo vel accumsan aliquam, tellus dui fringilla quam, in condimentum augue lorem non tellus. Pellentesque id arcu non sem placerat iaculis. Curabitur posuere, pede vitae lacinia accumsan, enim nibh elementum orci, ut volutpat eros sapien nec sapien. Suspendisse neque arcu, ultrices commodo, pellentesque sit amet, ultricies ut, ipsum. Mauris et eros eget erat dapibus mollis. Mauris laoreet posuere odio. Nam ipsum ligula, ullamcorper eu, fringilla at, lacinia ut, augue. Nullam nunc.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus. Aenean viverra malesuada libero. Fusce ac quam. Donec neque. Nunc venenatis enim nec quam. Cras faucibus, justo vel accumsan aliquam, tellus dui fringilla quam, in condimentum augue lorem non tellus. Pellentesque id arcu non sem placerat iaculis. Curabitur posuere, pede vitae lacinia accumsan, enim nibh elementum orci, ut volutpat eros sapien nec sapien. Suspendisse neque arcu, ultrices commodo, pellentesque sit amet, ultricies ut, ipsum. Mauris et eros eget erat dapibus mollis. Mauris laoreet posuere odio. Nam ipsum ligula, ullamcorper eu, fringilla at, lacinia ut, augue. Nullam nunc.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem, consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus. Aenean viverra malesuada libero. Fusce ac quam. Donec neque. Nunc venenatis enim nec quam. Cras faucibus, justo vel accumsan aliquam, tellus dui fringilla quam, in condimentum augue lorem non tellus. Pellentesque id arcu non sem placerat iaculis. Curabitur posuere, pede vitae lacinia accumsan, enim nibh elementum orci, ut volutpat eros sapien nec sapien. Suspendisse neque arcu, ultrices commodo, pellentesque sit amet, ultricies ut, ipsum. Mauris et eros eget erat dapibus mollis. Mauris laoreet posuere odio. Nam ipsum ligula, ullamcorper eu, fringilla at, lacinia ut, augue. Nullam nunc.