EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 45

September 2006


Edges speaks to those who visit the T.H.O.M.A.S. Drop-in- Centre. It Can Feed up to 50 people a day

Samantha aged 35

I come to the Drop-in because I meet other people and the food is alright and it’s always hot. I’m in a hostel at the moment so I can’t cook for myself. I’ve been homeless.My family stay in Glasgow and I fell out with them, I didn’t really get on with them so I left. Actually it was my own choice. That’s about fifteen years ago when I was twenty.

Things have gone from bad to worse and I’ve been arrested, for taking drugs, taking drink trying to get away from my problems, but you wake up the next morning and the problems are still there. I have two little boys aged eight and ten but I don’t have them down here with me at the moment. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t think about them, but I’m not allowed to send them cards or anything. It hurts.

I’m using heroin and on a methadone programme. Being an addict means you can’t really wake up until you’ve had a fix. You can get methadone but you still want that fix, that needle fixation or whatever and that’s just to get you through the day. Sometimes if I’ve got the money I’ll use maybe four bags a day. I’ve also used crack in the past just to make me feel normal.

I started when I was twenty-one.My ex-partner started me on drugs, he said they would make me feel better, the next thing I was addicted. I’ve never been on rehab but I’ve been in drug crisis centers fourteen times, but it hasn’t helped. I started again when I left. I need counseling to help me cope with my past.

Jenny aged 16

I come to the Drop-in with my boyfriend. I’m not doing much at the moment because I’m pregnant but I’d like to go to college next year to do my A levels. I did go to a young pregnant women’s unit at a school but I didn’t like it so I left. I’m living with my mum and dad at the moment.

Russell aged 32

I come into the Drop-in because I usually spend my Giro on other things. I have mental health problems and I find it difficult to socialize but I find it therapeutic coming here, meeting other people everyday. It’s not just for a hot meal but because it’s somewhere to go, something to do.

Lee aged 28

I come to the Drop-in to ask for help to get in the rehab. At the moment I’m living in an hostel, I just got in there yesterday. I have spent the last eight nights on the streets. I have worked for the past twelve years but I started drinking too much and I left my jobs and it became a circle. The drinking had been getting worse so I knew that I had to do something about it. I could drink up to about sixteen pints at a time on a binge, plus any spirits that I could get my hands on – six or eight doubles at a time. I need to stop drinking. I need to save my life.


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