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Heroin, Wales and Me

Former Velvet Underground star John Cale is no stranger to drugs - years of abuse could have killed him. Now he returns to Wales to find heroin causing havoc.

Rock star John Cale is no stranger to drugs - years of cocaine, heroin and alcohol abuse could have killed him.

Now the former Velvet Underground star returns to Wales to find heroin causing havoc in our communities.

He meets addicts, drugs workers and politicians - and asks why help is sometimes hard to find.

30 minutes

Addicts commit crime to get treatment

Heroin addicts say they are being forced to turn to crime to get treatment.

One addict, originally from Birmingham, said he'd found it easy to get treatment in England. But after moving to Wales and relapsing into heroin use, he was told he'd have to wait over a year to get help.

And a 23 year old Cardiff man said he'd deliberately got himself caught shoplifting in order to get onto a treatment programme.

User age decreasing

The programme also reveals shocking evidence that Class A drugs such as heroin are being used by children as young as 12.

Jamie Harris from Sandpits project for under 18s in Swansea said 鈥淵oung people come in more often than not around the 15 years old mark, but they are reporting that they first started using heroin younger 鈥 possibly twelve or thirteen.鈥

Former Velvet Underground star, John Cale

Former Velvet Underground star, John Cale
Cale, from Garnant in Carmarthenshire, is shocked to meet teenage addicts.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter David Cornock
Producer Jeremy Davies
Director Jeremy Davies

Broadcast