Examiner leader: Desperate for a fix

Oct 21 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

ANYONE who thinks drugs does not affect the whole of society should read the case of bank robber John Rhind.

He is the son of two retired headteachers and yet sunk into a life dominated by drug dependency.

He became hopelessly hooked on heroin and, desperate to get cash, carried out two armed robberies at the same branch of the Bradford and Bingley bank in Brighouse.

Before these raids he had not come across the police radar. He had no convictions nor even cautions.

It appears to have been accepted by the court that the motive behind such serious first-time offences was the need for his next fix of heroin. Simple as that.

A vast amount of the crime the police deal with day-to-day is similarly drug-fuelled.

If you have your home burgled or someone breaks into your car to take the CD player or sat nav, it is likely to be an addict eager to get money for that next fix.

Fortunately street robberies still remain reasonably rare in Huddersfield, but again drugs are often the main motive.

People on drugs lose their jobs – as in Rhind’s case which no doubt sparked that spiral into crime – their marriages, their homes.

They become estranged from their families and many drug addicts eventually lose their lives.

Drugs wreak a heavy crime toll and a heavy toll of human misery.