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Private Reggie says:-

Aye if you say so MrT

Grew up in a housing estate pre Thatcher that had brewery's, brick works and many miner's, I grew up in an estate that was built to house Irish immigrants that where to much trouble for the city centre (Cowgate/south side) Aye MrT a real education on the social ills of that time, the estate, Craigmillar/Niddrie, reckoned to be post Thatcher as the 3rd most deprived area of Scotland, what caused us to be tagged with that, mass unemployment created by the wicked witch of the south, the surge in crime and drugs was unstoppable, mass unemployment had a knock on effect that is still seen 35 years later, the community I grew up in had spirit, that was ripped out by Thatcher's ideology of fear amongst the masses, that fear is still evident today, it diminishes hope and opportunity for areas like Craigmillar, it creates desperation, it creates depressed people, it creates boredom amongst our youth, Thatcher job done, but hey you think what you want, as for the poetry, if I feel the urge I'll write it, you don't have to like it.

Happy Christmas.

Never done me any harm in my youth and didn't lead me to use herion either, the point is most of us had the will power to stick, only a minority took the card of the devil.

My curiosity started with cigarettes and alcohol, getting wasted on snake bite (lager&cider) wasn't though as cool as smoking a joint and listening to good music.

Moving on up or into harder drugs is down to the individual, human nature & greed are two aspects of wanting more, addiction control though is built in, most of us can control it and a minority can't.

In the early days of someone within a family using a substance like herion, the reaction of that family can be crucial to the user, my brother used herion at the age of 15, we noticed he turned Yellow, Jondice, Questions where asked and he opened up and admitted using herion 3 times with a needle, our family pulled together and showed him family love, he never used it again but did like many of us enjoy a spliff, we are pretty close and we knew everything that went on, sadly though in 92 he was diagnosed with hiv and passed away in 94, his biggest regret was him trying herion 9 years earlier, i don't believe smoking cannabis leads to harder drugs, I believe hope does, if your living a life with no hope or there is a lack of opportunity, that's when a person is at their most vulnerable.

So let's talk about that era when herion use took off, the early 80s and the creation of mass unemployment by the TORIES, all social ills can be traced to that bitch Thatcher.

I'll leave you with a poem I wrote concerning substance misuse.

BEYOND THE GRAVE

Beyond the grave our message to you
a message that should be clear
our message concerns substance misuse
one that offers no an excuse
for there is no excuse when playing the game
where the dragon's game is simply to tame
make no mistake at first it's great
taking control at a notorious rate.

Nothing to fear all of us thought
under control we took what we got
without concern for our family so dear
we genuinely thought there was nothing to fear
full of regret an full of remorse
never realising the one true cost.

So here it is as we play our cards
from beyond the grave, regretting our loss
how we can learn is how we can help
remembering the day's when we couldn't be telt
our message to you is one to embrace
play your part in the human race.

Learning of mistakes we once did make
you have to listen for heaven's sake
our message to you is one of fear
don't play with the dragon just stay well clear
everything said an all things done
keeping control in the game with the gun.

Make no excuse for substance misuse
It's just a weakness just something loose
open your eyes don't follow the blind
substance misuse it's all in the mind
over to you we wish you well
never going through that life of hell.