Town gripped by rise of new drug
Why spice is replacing heroin and wrecking community
A NEW drug is on the rise in Llanelli.
After much-publicised work by the police to tackle heroin use in the town – by targeting a network of dealers – it is now claimed that drug users are turning to a synthetic cannabinoid dubbed ‘spice’ instead.
Alan Andrews, chief executive of Llanelli’s drug rehabilitation charity Chooselife, said spice was the biggest problem Llanelli was facing, as it was so readily available. And he claimed that some people found it even more addictive than heroin.
IT’S been a talking point in Llanelli for as long as many can remember.
If you ask locals about issues that they think need resolving, the chances are a high number will mention something relating to drugs.
Station Road, Seaside, Morfa and New Dock are among the areas that experience problems with drug users as the police continue to crack down on county lines drugs gangs.
Last year, Dyfed-Powys Police’s Operation Ulysses broke up a North Wales group’s supply of millions of pounds of drugs into South West Wales between January 2014 and June 2017 and saw a number of heroin dealers put behind bars.
In that time, 38 people in Carmarthenshire, mainly Llanelli, died from heroin-related causes.
A grandmother who dealt heroin in the town was a pall-bearer at one of her customer’s funerals before continuing to sell the drug.
Just last week, 17 people were locked up and another four received suspended prison sentences after Dyfed-Powys Police smashed an organised criminal gang that was supplying heroin on the streets of Llanelli.
As police continue to crackdown on the Class A drug, ex-addicts and the town’s drugs drop-in centre have both admitted that as heroin is becoming less of a problem another drug is on the rise.
Alan Andrews, chief executive of Llanelli’s drug rehabilitation charity Chooselife, explained that the “biggest problem” that the town is currently facing is the synthetic cannabinoid spice.
“When it comes to spice, it seems readily available,” he said.
“The police have got their hands tied because it’s not a Class A drug.
“We see more people affected by spice and other services aren’t set up for people on these psychoactive drugs because they’re there for counselling.
“They find it more addictive than heroin. The last three years it’s been more spice, before that it was more heroin and other drugs like amphetamines.
“They’re struggling with it but they can’t stop taking it. We’ve had people turning up here who’ve tried it for the first time and it takes them where they don’t want to go.
“They’re scared, they’re terrified and thankfully they think ‘Where can I go to a safe place?’ and they come here and they get supported by the staff while the effect of the drug wears off.
“We’ve had people who’ve tried it for the first time, say they’ll never ever do it again but the problem is if you continue there’s an addiction there.”
An ex-heroin addict from Llanelli agreed that spice is on the increase in the town as he called it one of the worst drugs that “make you think and do things that you’d never normally do or think”.
The man, who has grown up in Llanelli, claimed that spice is very accessible within the town and that he is worried about the future impact it will have on the people taking it.
Now in his 40s, he has been clean for a year after taking drugs since the age of 16.
“Spice is a very big problem in town now,” he said.
“It’s a drug that you just have to smoke once or twice or a few days on the trot and it grips you.
“It’s a terrible drug. It will make you think and do things that you’d never ever normally do or think in your life.
“No-one knows the long-term psychological effects of it. The short term ones are bad enough. They strip you of your morals, your personality, everything and it scares me about how many youngsters are doing it today, especially in Llanelli.
“Some people can handle it, some people can smoke it but they’re very few and far between. The majority just end up in a heap on the floor blowing bubbles.”
He said that spice has been on the rise for the past two years since the crackdown on heroin.
“Since all the heroin dealers have been put in jail more and more people are turning to spice,” he added.
“It changed me totally [taking spice]. I was running around picking butts up off the floor. Within a year I was totally broken and I was homeless. I’d lost most of my friends because who wants to associate with that?
“You go so selfish because your first thought when you wake up in the morning is a joint and your last thought at night is a joint and you haven’t got time for what everyone else is saying or everyone else’s needs. It’s all about you.
“It’s as bad as heroin but there’s a more psychological effect with it and it stripped me of my personality. It took the sun away. I couldn’t feel anything.
“I just started smoking that on the odd occasion but then when I became homeless I really took to it. Once you start smoking it every day that’s it. That is the trap.”
After turning to Chooselife, he has managed to remain clean for the past year.
Chooselife provides a drop-in service that offers support to drug users, as well as ex-users, and even has five houses throughout Llanelli that offer supported accommodation to people who would otherwise be homeless.
Mr Andrews said that a lot of people using the Chooselife facility that smoke spice “don’t want to smoke it”.
He added: “It’s so unpredictable because each batch is different, you don’t know what you’re getting.
“When it first came out you get it in a packet and you knew what you were getting, but now people are spraying it with different things to make it stronger but you don’t know what they’re actually putting into it.
“I’ve heard people say ‘I really can’t stand it’ but then they continue to take it. I’ve never really heard someone say ‘I can’t stand heroin’. They can’t stand the addiction but people don’t like the effect that spice has on them yet they’ll continue to take it.
“The drugs aren’t the problem, it’s the reason why they’re taking them.” One Llanelli man used to inject heroin into his groin so often that he damaged a main artery in his groin which caused an internal bleed the size of a baseball.
At just 20 years old, he had to undergo emergency surgery with a one in three chance of success, the other two options either leading to a high amputation or even death through loss of blood.
“I was 20-years-old, I was homeless, I was drug dealing and I was going nowhere in life,” he said.
“I would have either ended up dead or doing a long custodial sentence. A lot of my mates are either now dead or doing lengthy custodial sentences.
“I’m so fortunate to come out of it.”
After getting clean, he turned to fitness as something to focus his mind on but it wasn’t long before an injury that prevented him from training led to a nervous breakdown.
He added: “It just broke me and I went straight back on the heroin.
“I started self-medicating doing boxes of valium just to take the time away throughout the day and it led from valium to codeine to pretty much whatever I could get my hands on.”
Similarly, Chooselife also helped him beat his demons and has now been clean since last year.
He agreed that drugs are widely available throughout the town and claimed that “you don’t have to go looking anymore, it’s pretty much brought to you”.
“Spice is a large factor in town at the moment but there is still heroin and crack widely available. Spice is massive in Llanelli and it’s turning good boys like vegetables. It’s a very selfish drug, similar to heroin.
“Unless you’ve got your fix and you’re alright, you couldn’t care about anyone else. It’s getting to such a problem now that the kids are getting younger and younger.
“You’ve got the County Lines boys down here who are paying kids as young as 14 or 15 and when you’re paying a 14 or 15-year-old £40 or £50 it’s massive money to them.
“It’s the respect and protection that comes with it. They feel secure and part of the family but when it comes down to the crunch they’d chuck you underneath a train in seconds.”
Despite more people turning to the synthetic cannabinoid, this is not to say that the heroin issue has totally disappeared with Mr Andrews even calling it “the worst it’s ever been” in light of the county lines drug gangs.