Recovery: 'I was addicted to cocaine for 25 years, I was broken'

A man addicted to cocaine for 25 years has said his substance abuse left him broken and thinking of suicide.

As of Monday, Derek Harrison has been clean for six months.

After years of living “a life of Groundhog Day misery”, he said there’s hope on the other side of addiction.

In 2024, Mr Harrison had been addicted to cocaine for more than two decades before contacting Hope House – a drug and alcohol recovery centre based in West Lothian.

“I was in a bad way,” he told STV News, “I didn’t want to be here or live anymore. That’s what cocaine did to me.

Scotland

Suspected drug deaths fell 11% last year, figures show

Health secretary Neil Gray welcomed the reduction but said more must be done to lower the death toll further.

“I struggled to sometimes get six hours [clean], never mind six months. It was like a Groundhog Day, a life of misery, and it was difficult to stop.”

Mr Harrison said that when he arrived at Hope House, run by recovery charity Steps to Hope, he was “broken”.

“It’s a special place,” he said.

“It’s definitely helped save my life. My family’s got their son, brother, uncle, and my kids have got their dad back through Steps to Hope and I’m happy today.

“I never thought I’d get to this point.”

Hope House opened last year, Mr Harrison was one of the first people through its doors.

It can house up to ten people who all go through its 90-day recovery programme.

Mr Harrison graduated from its 12 steps and now wants to help other people struggling with addiction along their path to recovery because he believes “everyone deserves happiness”.

Mr Harrison’s story of hope and recovery comes amidst the latest suspected drug death statistics from Police Scotland.

The report reveals that suspected drug deaths “remain at a high level”, but there were 11% (132) fewer than in 2023.

Overall, police data recorded 1,065 suspected drug deaths in Scotland in 2024.

Men accounted for 74% of these deaths, which is consistent with previous years. The majority of these deaths affected people between 35 and 54 years old. There were 34 suspected drug deaths of people under 25 years old, 37% fewer than in 2023.

Health secretary Neil Gray welcomed the reduction in drug deaths last year, but he emphasised that more must be done to bring numbers down even further.

“My condolences go to anyone who has lost a loved one,” he said.

“Every death is one too many and despite the welcome reduction in these figures on suspected deaths, they remain far too high.

He added: “We want every person experiencing harm from drug use to be able access the support they need and through our national mission on drugs, we are taking a wide range of evidence-based measures to reduce harm and save lives.”

Gray said these measures include opening the UK’s first safer drug consumption facility pilot in Glasgow in January, working towards the opening of drug-checking facilities, and widening access to residential rehab and life-saving naloxone.

Glasgow & West

UK’s first drug consumption room visited more than 1,000 times

Glasgow City Council said there had also been a number of ‘medical emergencies’ at the facility.

He added that funding for more than 300 grassroots projects has also supported more than 33,000 people, and he said record funding for alcohol and drug programmes had been protected in the Budget and now stands at more than £160m.

The Samaritans can be contacted any time, from any phone, free on 116 123, email at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch. Details of other services and more information can be found on the NHS website here.

Insight Colin Mackay Political Editor

Suspected drug deaths are down on the previous year and are the lowest since 2019, but are still probably at the highest level in Western Europe and more than double the UK average rate.

It’s still a big problem.

People talk about a drugs death emergency in Scotland – the Scottish Government is talking about being on a drugs mission to try and get these numbers down.

With what the Government has done so far this year, with the opening of the Thistle Centre — the safe consumption room in Glasgow — and trying to create more rehab facilities, the situation may be showing some improvement.

But it’s nowhere near fast enough, and the Scottish Government would admit that itself.

That comes as no comfort whatsoever to the 1,065 families who have lost loved ones or their friends who have lost someone close to them.