A man who was addicted to crack cocaine has claimed it's easier to get the drug than a takeaway in the valleys. Richard, 28, who lives in the Rhondda, told a new BBC documentary that there is a "crack epidemic" in the region.
The latest episode of Drugs Map of Britain included interviews with users and dealers of the Class A drug crack, which is a smokable, more concentrated, and more addictive form of cocaine. The documentary followed Richard, who had been smoking crack for four years, as he decided to enter rehab and reclaim his life from the shackles of addiction.
According to data from Public Health Wales crack and cocaine deaths in Wales increased fourfold in the five years to 2019. Richard, who has a nine-year-old daughter, said in the documentary: "A few years ago you'd have to go to Cardiff to get it. But now the dealers are creeping up into the Valleys. You're never far away from somebody who sells crack."
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He recalled he was only 11 when he first started using drugs and hasn't stopped since. He began smoking cannabis, before moving into sniffing cocaine recreationally, before crossing what he described as a "thin line" into using crack cocaine. Want less ads? Download WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android.
"I was looking for a better high than the cocaine was giving me because you're always chasing that first high which you're never, ever going to get again," he said. He said he was a "functioning crack user" in the first two years he used it, managing to have a relationship and did "things that normal people do".
The dad said he also worked a number of jobs while deep into his addiction – as a landscaper, factory operator, and a bus driver – and would smoke crack at work. But crack addicts can only function for a temporary amount of time, he said.
"In the end it will show. It will come through... You can't get away from it. When it's in your head you're literally willing to do anything to get it." He added: "I believe the rest of my life is going to be controlled by drugs." For the latest Rhondda news sign up to our newsletter here.
The documentary saw him enter rehab in Leicester after he'd "had enough" of living with addiction, admitting he believed he would "end up with nothing" as a result. He was interviewed after six weeks in rehab and said he had stopped taking drugs altogether and felt "like a changed man".
He said he will remain in the programme as a volunteer for another year You can watch all the episodes of Drugs Map of Britain on BBC iPlayer.
