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EASTERN EYE February 2, 2007
www.easterneyeonline.co.uk www.easterneyescotland.com
SAMINA had dreams of starting
a family, going to university and
to be a lawyer – until her hus-
band introduced her to heroin
and crack cocaine.
It led the 33 year-old to drop out of
college and resign from a job in retail.
She spent the next six years thrusting
needles into her arm and using crime
to fund her “£300-a-day” habit.
A recent study has found that more
and more British Asians are using
drugs. If you thought that the extent
of the community’s drug problems
were simply teenagers taking the
occasional puff of a cannabis joint on
a Saturday night be prepared for
a shock.
An expert told Eastern Eye that
Asian women are now buying drugs
from their own community rather
than Blacks or goras: Asians are ready
to exploit Asians for drug money.
Samina said she was part of a gen-
eration of British Bangladeshi girls
that were hooked on heroin and
crack in Britain at the turn of the
century.
She is too scared to have her pho-
tograph taken because of the shame
it would bring on her parents.
She said: “I fell into drugs at 26 by
my husband of four years who was
also an addict. When you took the
drugs it was good but I was always on
my own, funding both our habits. I
still have the needle marks on my
arm and suffered mild asthma.
“I did shop-lifting, bank fraud, tak-
ing people’s handbags – if a pram was
left on the side, whatever was there [I
would steal it]. You can get drugs
from anywhere.
“Last year, I split with my husband
and moved away and things started
falling in place. I visited a drugs inter-
vention program and had metha-
done treatment [a substitute for
heroin] and counselling. I still go to
counselling every two weeks as my
needs are less.”
Recent surveys in Britain have lift-
ed the lid on the taboo subject.
A survey of British Asians by
University of Central Lancashire
(UCLan) for the NHS was published
in January. It found that about a third
of respondents said they had used an
illegal substance while just over