Mother's promise

Linda Smith has taken up a promise her son, Graham, made, that if he successfully recovered from his Drugs problem, he would go and visit schools in Aireborough and Wharfedale and speak to them about it.

It is a decision which we applaud and which must surely be welcomed by anyone in a responsible society.

Drugs are our biggest problem. They are responsible for the vast majority of all crime committed in this country and even in Wharfedale and Aireborough we have been touched by the damage they can cause.

For many young people, however, the dangers of drugs seem far away when they are at school

Yet it is at this age that they are most vulnerable to succumbing to the lure of drugs.

They are regularly informed by people in positions of authority - teachers or police officers - that drugs kill.

But, until it happens to someone they know, young

people seem unable to accept that there is a danger.

Both Mrs Smith and Otley-based schools liaison officer PC Dave Robson believe that by speaking about what Graham went through as he tried to battle against his drugs problem, they can give pupils a starting point from which to ask questions.

Her experiences have also been put onto a video which is being distributed through every school in West Yorkshire.

As Mrs Smith says, Graham realised he did not want to be a drug addict and he fought desperately hard to beat his heroin problem.

But, tragically, it was not to be and a coroners inquest recorded that his death had been caused by a dependance on drugs.

We hope that the experiences of Mrs Smith and Grahams death, which PC Robson believes was one too many, is enough to prevent any other people in Horsforth, Aireborough or Wharfedale dying from a drugs overdose.

If young people can be given the right information at the right time, we can all hope they resist the temptation to give it a try.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.