Father and former addict warns of addiction’s hidden toll on families

A father of four from Somerset is using his own experiences to warn of the “traumatic” effect drug addiction can have on families.

Andrew Deane-Williams became a drug addict in his early teens, but got clean in his thirties and married and started a family. After being prescribed opiate-based painkillers for an injury he relapsed and saw the devastating impact on his wife and children.

Now, years after stopping drug use, he has launched a charity ‘Broken Chains UK’, which supports children and young people who have parents battling with drug addiction, based on his experience of healing with his own family.

Family focus

Andrew explained how once, after phoning his wife Abi from rehab to “rant” about his difficulties and exhaustion, she responded quietly: “tired, let me tell you about tired”.

He said: “It dawned on me that while I was in there (in rehab) I was getting all this help and she was left to pick up the pieces of a broken family, with the kids crying because they don’t know what’s going on, and upset because Dad’s not there.”

The 47 year old stated: “Drug addiction is messy, it’s chaotic and it takes your soul. My kids suffered and it was fairly apparent that they had to recover from my addiction just as well as I did”.

“When you think about drug addiction, and addicts in particular, you’re focusing a lot on them and not so much on the family.”

Targeting the source

Following a series of recent drug raids in Scotland, Detective Inspector Gary Lamb gave a similar warning, stating: “Controlled drugs cause real harm and misery to individuals, families and communities. They are illegal for that very reason.”

During the raids, Police Scotland officers arrested seven men and seized £50,000 worth of drugs in a move to disrupt the drug trade.

The Detective Inspector explained: “Organised criminals don’t care about anyone other than themselves, they only care about power and money. Their drug dealing activities can have a domino effect into wider offences, including antisocial behaviour, theft and serious violence.

“We continue to work, day in and day out, to target and disrupt anyone involved in drug dealing. We will not tolerate it in our communities and our focus on targeting those involved in organised crime and dismantling their criminal networks has never been stronger.”