This is the kind of raw honesty we need to end misery of drugs
Scotland’s leading crime expert’s take on the warped world inhabited by crimelords, killers and creeps
“EUPHORIC recall” is a psychological term often used when discussing addiction and substance misuse – it describes a tendency for people to remember their past experiences in a positive light, while ignoring everything negative about the same event.
You remember the highs, in other words, but never the lows.
It is also the title of Aidan Martin’s memoir of growing up on a tough housing estate in Livingston and of his descent into addiction and, more importantly, how he got clean so that he now “lives his dream, despite coming from the schemes”, as he recently put it on Twitter.
I was struck by how honest, authentic and raw Aidan’s writing was – especially as he didn’t shy away from describing how awful he had been to his family, partner and friends when he was using.
At one stage, to finance his addiction to cocaine, speed and ecstasy, he even stole from his younger brother’s fund which had been set up to buy cancer treatment and he thought nothing of sponging off his family, despite their own lack of money, to pay for a habit that was costing him hundreds of pounds every week.
When I spoke to Aidan, he said: “I wasn’t a good partner, or a son. However, if I wanted people to believe the good parts of my story, I had to be honest about the bad parts too.”
Aidan was addicted to a cocktail of drugs and alcohol from the age of 14, and left school with no qualifications two years later.
He describes his school as “a young offender’s institution, where violence was normalised. It wasn’t about learning but about surviving”.
However, after coming close to being murdered, Aidan decided to get help and a mixture of abstinence, recovery fellowships and education – he cannot say enough about how wonderful West Lothian College has been for his development – has allowed him to get his life back on track.
Just as importantly, he sees lessons from his own journey that can be copied by others who are still addicted.
He said: “We should start seeing drug addiction as a health issue and not something for the criminal justice system to tackle.
“We need to de-criminalise drugs, offer better mental health provision and expand education for people in socially deprived areas to give them hope.” Aidan is putting his money where his mouth is and was regularly speaking inside HMP Addiewell, with plans to speak at HMP Barlinnie and HMP Shotts before Covid-19 struck.
He has also held discussions with Angela Constance, who last December was made Minister for Drugs Policy in the Scottish Parliament, and he remains keen to promote the idea that addicts are people who have talents and, with the right help, a future that can be harnessed for the greater good.
Aidan seems to me to be living proof of those beliefs.
He sees lessons from his journey that can be copied by others