A Welsh woman who lost her son to an overdose will be calling for the same drug to be legalised at an event in Powys as a way to avoid future tragedies.
After the tragedy of losing her son, Welsh mum Nadia Rees is calling for legal control and regulation of the drug market so that other parents never have to go through the same thing.
Nadia will be sharing her story alongside Welsh service users, providers, and politicians at a public event in Brecon Cathedral on October 16.
The event is being co hosted by Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, a campaign to transform drug policy working with families who wish to change current drug laws in the UK as well as Kaleidoscope, the Wales-based drug and alcohol charity.
Nadia who is now a campaigner with Anyone’s Child said: “To keep our children as safe as possible we need to take the supply of drugs away from criminals and put them under the control of our government. I wish it wasn’t too late for my son, Ben.”
Jane Slater, Campaign Manager for Anyone's Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, added: “Making drugs illegal isn’t keeping our children safe, it’s putting them in danger. We need to give control of the market to this government so that our families can be better protected.”
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This event will face the reality of “what drugs mean for Welsh families and host an urgent conversation about how to save lives and protect the community”.
From 12 pm onwards the public can visit the Cathedral to tour the UK’s first unsanctioned Overdose Prevention Centre, which previously operated in Glasgow.
Visitors will also be able to receive education and information about problematic substance use, receive life-saving training in the naloxone overdose reversal drug, and meet service users to learn how lives have been changed.
There will be a memorial of 4,517 hand-made forget-me-not flowers for lives lost to drugs in the UK in 2021. Visitors are encouraged to make a flower themselves to “remember a life lost to or damaged by substance use.”
The event will also see speakers such as James Evans MS for Brecon and Radnorshire, Sarah Langford, Service Manager, Adferiad Powys Children and Young Peoples service as well Martin Blakebrough the CEO of Kaleidoscope
“The success of needle syringe exchanges in reducing transmission of bloodborne viruses has long been acknowledged by government,” said Mr Blakebrough.
“But we cannot keep giving homeless people a needle syringe with only the street or public park to inject in. We need to provide safe places for people who use drugs to inject in, to keep the service users and the wider community safe from harm.”
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