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"People should
know that when
they buy stolen
goods they're
helping feed
someone's
heroin habit."

Donna Marsh, Worksop

Donna Marsh knows the devastation heroin can bring. Her son Gary is addicted to the drug and regularly steals and shoplifts to feed his habit.

Donna is angry, not just at the dealers who've flooded her home town with drugs, but also at members of the local community who buy stolen goods.

"People think there's nothing wrong with buying a stolen video or TV. They think they're getting a bargain," she says.

"But they're giving money to a heroin addict. That could be my son. And it could buy him the bag of heroin that kills him."

So Donna and a group of other mothers of heroin users have launched a campaign to educate local people.

It will be fronted by a mother whose son died of a drugs overdose last year.

"We'll ask people whether they could look this mother in the eye. Is a cheap video worth the price of a life?" Donna asks.

They're planning leaflets and posters, and have the support of the local newspaper and the police.

The idea came about after a ground-breaking study by the local MP.

Over three days last year, John Mann MP invited all in the community to a "Public Inquiry" about the drugs problem.

Hundreds of people gave evidence, from the police and social services to heroin addicts and their relatives.

The study concluded that around one third of local people have been directly touched by heroin - either as users, family members or victims of drug-related crime.

John Mann is taking findings to the Prime Minister, and is determined to put more treatment and education programmes in place to try and change things.

Click here to watch the Your Politics report

What you can do:

You can find out more about the work of John Mann MP and read the results of his heroin inquiry at:
http://www.johnmannmp.co.uk
There are contacts on the website for John Mann's offices in Westminster and Worksop - they can put you in touch with Donna Marsh and her community campaign.

More information on the DARE programme, an innovative drugs education project for children, can be found at:
http://www.dare.uk.com/

The National Drugs Helpline is on
0800 77 66 00.
Call for free advice, help or just a talk. Calls are confidential and won't show up on bills.

What do you think is the best way to tackle heroin? You sent us your comments.

Drug addiction is a medical, not a legal problem. Drug crime due to high prices is the problem. Impure products is the problem because of no regulation in the illegal market. People take drugs because of previous or ongoing abuse, boredom, social exclusion or because it is illegal. In other words, we are alienating the most vulnerable people in our society. Legalise all drugs, reduce street prices. Make users patients, dealers shopkeepers. I do not believe anyone who wants to use drugs is put off by their being illegal. Yes, continue to punish crime as it happens, but it will happen a lot less if a fix costs less than a cigarette.
John, Scotland

The harder the authorities crack down, the more expensive the drugs on the street become.

Nick Lilley, England

I can't believe that after almost a century of failure there are still people advocating zero tolerance of illegal drugs. When will these people ever get real? The harder the authorities crack down, the more expensive the drugs on the street become. As a direct result addicts need to commit even more crime to fund their addiction. Alternatively, those predisposed to prostitution can always sell their bodies and risk HIV infection ( if not already infected). Either legalise the lot, or at the very least allow doctors to prescribe them to certified addicts free of charge.
Nick Lilley, England

I was interested to hear about the DARE drugs programme and the Headmaster's comments about how effective it is in his school. I believe that you said on the programme that it is funded out of private sponsorship and fundraising. Isn't it about time that such a programme as DARE, which is fundamental if we are to start shifting future generations away from the drug culture, is funded by the State? The Government should not rely on the hard work and generosity of the few to fund something as basic to our future as effective education on the problems of drug abuse.
Richard Paul, United Kingdom

I caught your feature on Mothers tackling heroin related crime. It is a pity that it will not work. There is only one way to deal with this problem and that is to legalise heroin and dispense it for nothing from doctors' surgeries. This could be combined with much higher sentences for those few people who persisted with drug related burglaries. Where localised pilot programmes have been done with free supply of heroin the local burglary rate falls by 60 to 70 percent. It is strange that this obvious solution is so strongly resisted by governments.
Ian Tapp, London

Another source of funds for drug addicts is illegal moneylenders.

John Watson, Scotland

Another source of funds for drug addicts is illegal moneylenders. They charge exorbitant interest rates and use threats to get their money. This often forces addicts to steal to get money to repay the moneylender and then they borrow more money to buy drugs. They get caught in a vicious circle spiralling to despair and misery for them, their families and society at large. Illegal moneylenders as well as drug dealers should be stamped out.
John Watson, Scotland

I'm from Holland and, as you might know, we had elections yesterday. The Labour party has won lots of seats, and one of the things that they're in favour of is giving heroin to drug addicts for free! I can't believe this. According to me, zero tolerance is the solution. If you've got problems in a country it should be solved, and not be legalised. Zero tolerance is the solution. Face the problem, don't walk away from it like we do...
F de Man, The Netherlands

As parents we've had personal experience of living with a heroin addict, now fully recovered thank God. We researched drugs problems and it surprises us that no one mentions in debate the situation pre-1967. It was called "The British Solution" and for the first half of 20th century the number of drug addicts was contained because opiates were legally prescribed by GPs and later dedicated NHS clinics were set up to help what was perceived as a growing number of addicts. All drugs should be legalised but strictly monitored.
Pat Duncan, UK

The government need to face up to the fact that there is a major problem

Mark Johncock, Wales

I lost one of my closest friends that I knew since primary school through heroin. The government need to face up to the fact that there is a major problem and many people are suffering. Surely the health and well being of the nation should be Blair's major concern?
Mark Johncock, Wales, UK

Heroin (diamorphine) has been used medically for years. That's how it got its name. Patients called it their 'heroine'. Cannabis will shortly be available in tablet form for medical use under supervision. Let's not confuse medical use of drugs with social use for which there should rightly be zero tolerance.
Ian Brealey, Northampton

It's time drug policy was shaped on the basis of what the consequences of use of each type of drug are. In social terms I doubt that cannabis is more harmful than alcohol. In fact, knowing the effect that alcohol has on a lot of people, particularly young men, cannabis use is socially quite benign. Resources need to be devoted to ridding this country of the scourges of heroin and crack cocaine, which cost the country and individuals enormously. Carrying on the fiction that cannabis is a seriously dangerous drug just diverts resources from where they are so evidently needed.
Simon, UK