Former addict plans family group

Ms Fenton plans to bid for Lottery money

A former prostitute and heroin addict in Bristol is seeking funding and volunteers to set up a support group for families affected by drug use.

Alison Fenton was a drug addict for 22 years, buying her first bag of heroin aged 11.

She came to Bristol in the 1990s and has had two children taken into care.

She said: "If someone has an addict in their family, it is not just down to that addict to live that life. Everyone is dragged in."

"The addict's normality becomes the family's normality," she added.

Ms Fenton plans to bid for lottery money to set up the support group.

Government money is often channelled into helping addicts quit, with local councils not obliged to help families.

Brendan Georgeson, of rehab centre Walsingham House - which holds one family session a week - said: "There should be a worker in every GP surgery to help families of drug addicts."