MUM SHARES PAIN OF LOSS
Raising awareness as drugs claim son
West Lothian paused last week for the funeral of a 20-year-old man who died from a drug overdose.
Young Nathan Hadlow from Livingston died three weeks ago after taking street Valium and was laid to rest on Wednesday, April 7.
His heartbroken mum, Tracy Hadlow, allowed the funeral to be filmed to raise awareness and try to provoke politicians into action.
Speaking to The Courier she revealed her agony.
She said: “It’s still sinking in that I won’t see him again. All I have are memories and photos.
“He had a burst for life. When he was not under the influence he was great to have around.
“Nathan knew I was here but he protected me from his lifestyle. When a child reaches 16 its hard to access supports if they won’t engage.”
She invited local author and activist Aidan Martin to speak at the crematorium chapel.
Aidan revealed that he had been in touch with Tracy for months.
He said: “When my book came out and I was getting asked to speak at a lot of events, campaigning against the drug crisis, a lot of people locally started reaching out to me.
“It can be families worried about someone, or else the addict themselves, and it is happening in numbers I can’t even keep up with.
“Tracy contacted me a few months before her son died and at that point he was in a really bad way, and I was trying to help her with services.
“B ut they are scarce and waiting lists are huge so it was another one of these conversations I was having.
“Then she messages me at four in the morning a few weeks ago.
“It woke me up and I opened it and she said that the police had come to her house to tell her that her son was dead.”
Aidan says there are simply not enough adequate emergency facilities for drug addicts in West Lothian.
Unfortunately, he believes we will continue to see tragedies like Nathan continue until the county has better facilities for treating people.
He continued: “It is a national issue but West Lothian is at even more of a disadvantage than places like Glasgow and Edinburgh, who have more facilities than what we have.
“For rehab and detox we have the Ritson Clinic and Lothians and Edinburgh Abstinence Programme (LEAP) but that is all there is and getting a place is scarce.
“West Lothian is one of the fastest growing populations in Scotland and we should have our own facilities.
“What we do have is Change Grow Life (CGL) and I would say they offer the best third sector service in West Lothian, but they work with a massive caseload and not enough resources.”
The charity CGL offer their own recovery service for addicts in West Lothian.
But Aidan wants more people in power to do their bit to bring about change. He says he has had positive conversations with “authentic” local politicians like Angela Constance and Neil Findlay and praised existing services who are “trying their best”.
Aidan added: “I don’t want to attack the services we do have in West Lothian.
“There are good services, trying their best. I don’t want it to seem like I am attacking the people who are trying and doing their best with what we have got.
“We just have to be innovative. “One of the things I have been fighting for is for people to have access to a free bus pass and you wouldn’t believe the battle I have had trying to get that for people.
“It looks like they might change it but it seems to me like a very basic barrier for people in getting to appointments with important services. If an appointment is in Edinburgh then the financial cost can be too much.
“And I don’t know if this is controversial or not but we just need people with privilege and power in West Lothian to use their voice more.
“People come to me but I am just a guy who released a book last year, I don’t have any power.
Local MSP Neil Findlay watched the proceedings online and is demanding more is down for families like the Hadlow’s.
He said: “This week we saw another young life lost unnecessarily to street drugs. Every day three people are dying in Scotland because of drugs. We have the worst level of drugs deaths in the developed world. This is Scotland’s shame. I know from dealing with more and more families who are desperate to help their lives ones how few services are available locally.
“There is almost no access to residential rehab, no crisis services, waiting times to see a psychologist are sitting at 18-24 months.
“Drugs users feel their is nowhere to turn and families feel helpless.
“We need a revolution in drugs services with investment of services to get people the immediate professional help they need to prevent more a avoidable loss of life.”
You can call Change Grow Life on 01506 353453 or visit their office at 19B South Bridge Street, Bathgate.
For more information: https://www.changegrowlive.org/recoveryservice-west-lothian/info