Addiction

Copyright Oggbashan March 2021

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

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Part One is 'Brigit'; Part Two is 'Brigit Too'; Part Three is 'Brigit's Babies'; Part Four is 'Christmas Debt'; Part Five is 'Women's Refuge'; Part Six is 'Housing'.

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Introduction to Part Seven.

I had met Brigit the Irish earth goddess. She had used me subtly first to change the lives of many oppressed and neglected women (Part One) in our community and then with Deirdre to stop a refuse tip despoiling the countryside (Part Two). She had rewarded me both times and had brought Deirdre to me. Now we both worshipped Brigit frequently. 'Worshipping Brigit' can best be done with a man's tongue between a woman's legs. Brigit and Deirdre had made me suffer by teasing me about my inability to satisfy either of them. I had no hope of ever satisfying Brigit: no man could however fit and strong. When Brigit introduced me to Deirdre I was far from fit. A year later, after intensive training from both of them, I had become a new man sometimes capable of satisfying Deirdre - for a few hours.

Then I married Deirdre, with Brigit as bridesmaid or incognito goddess of honour, and we had a baby Brigit. The goddess Brigit, Deirdre and I helped the local midwives to save the maternity unit and encourage home births (Part Three). We had a baby Brigit, named after the goddess. We with Bronwen, previously nicknamed Brigit, had started to solve the problem of debt for poorer women (Part Four) and had acquired Anna as a helper for our daughter Brigit usually called Biddie. We had converted an old fort into a protected refuge for abused women (Part Five). We had provided a new council housing estate on land that used to flood (Part Six).

Unusually my next task didn't come from the Goddess Brigit but from our childminder, Anna.

I came home from work to find Anna crying in Deirdre's arms.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Gary," Anna sobbed.

"Gary? Who is Gary?"

"You know," Deirdre said. "He was one the motorcycle club members who helped with the hydraulics at the Women's Refuge fort. Anna? Please make us some coffee while I tell Raymond."

Anna went off to the kitchen.

"OK, Deirdre, so what has upset Anna?"

"Today Gary sold his treasured motorbike to Darren because he owes money to drug dealers. Anna was there and says that Gary is a wreck, a shadow of his former self, and looks like death. She thinks unless something is done, Gary will be dead within months. He has asked for help to address his drug addiction, but the earliest he can be on a scheme is months away and Anna doesn't think he will live that long. He is Darren and Anna's friend and was an usher at their wedding."

"I suppose," I said slowly, "I could finance private treatment. There is a clinic about fifty miles away, isn't there?"

"I'm not sure that would work, Raymond," Deirdre said. "About ten years ago, before we met, one of my friends had a mental health crisis. She was admitted after a couple of weeks delay. The costs were covered by her private health insurance but were eye-watering - two hundred and fifty pounds a day for five weeks."

"Ouch!" I said.

"Exactly. And the costs are higher now and that clinic is oversubscribed. They have to turn away at least half of potential patients."

"So what can we do?"

"I have no idea. Anna says that there are dozens of people like Gary in the community, wanting to get off drugs and unable to access services. Jailing Justin and his drug dealing friends has pushed the local price of illegal drugs sky-high. People want to quit because they can no longer afford drugs but..."

"How do you know about the price of drugs, Deirdre?"

"From Anna, but mainly from Bronwen. Every time I meet Bronwen we talk about drugs, the dealers and the associated gangs. We're frustrated that we can't get anywhere with the problems they cause. Getting rid of Justin has made the problem worse because there are groups fighting on the streets to take over his territory. Bronwen and our friends haven't got the resources to deal with the gangs and are afraid to confront them because the dealers will use extreme violence."

"What about the Police?"

"They're overstretched and so many dealers come from outside the county, stay an hour or so, and are gone. The Police have made a few arrests since Justin and his dealers were taken off the streets but that has a minor effect on the community. Drug taking and dealing is so rife. The dealers boast that you can have drugs faster than fast food takeaways - and it's true."

"What else does Bronwen know, and why hasn't she told me?

"She's afraid that you could be hurt if you get involved. There are three gangs on the main council estate. In the estate they are generally at peace because they have defined boundaries, but outside? They're constantly completing with each other for territory and there are knife and sometimes even gun fights. Bronwen is worried because it is husbands, partners, sons and even daughters who are involved with the gangs. No one dare contact the police. One woman who did when her son died from a bad drug batch had her car torched and all her house windows smashed repeatedly. She was beaten up in the street three times until she left the town."

"And the Police can do nothing?"

"Without information from the community? They are struggling just with the drug supply. They can't tackle the gangs without help. But back to Gary. Anyone who tries to stop being a drug user is targeted by the gangs. They don't want to lose a customer. They will offer a discount with the threat of violence if the user tries to stop, It is hard enough to come off drugs without the threat of violence if you try."

"So, if we want to help Gary, we would have to tackle the wider problem of the drug dealers and the gangs?"

"And that's a massive task. Bronwen didn't want to tell you because she's afraid that if you tried, the violence would get much worse, and you could be hurt or even killed."

"But unless someone does, the problems we have been dealing with such as debt, domestic violence, and homelessness will never end?"

"That is true, Raymond." Brigit said.

The goddess Brigit had walked into the room followed by Anna. Brigit was carrying a tray with three mugs of coffee. She passed them around. Brigit sat beside me and kissed me on a cheek. Unusually, because of the enormity of the task that Deirdre had outlined, I didn't react as I usually did to Brigit. She noticed, and her face was sad. I was so worried by the scale of the problem that I didn't have my usual reaction to Brigit's appearance. She hugged me and whispered 'Later' in my ear.

"Anna has raised the problem because of Gary, but fixing this one will be the hardest we have ever attempted, Raymond."

"We, Brigit? Even I can't..."

"I said we, and I mean we. If we are to tackle this we will need all of us, all our friends and contacts, the Police, the health service, social services, the council - hundreds of people. We have to succeed for the whole community but whether we can? Even I don't know."

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As we drank Brigit's milky coffee were started to make a long list of what we needed to do and who we needed to involve. My heart sank as the list got longer and longer. We decided, as a first step, to have a meeting with all the relevant authorities before trying to contact our friends and the community.

That evening Brigit came to bed with Deirdre and me. Even so, I was so appalled by the scale of the task, that it took a long time, even with the two of them working together, to get me erect. I was unhappy about that. Normally just seeing Brigit made me instantly erect, but not this time. I was feeling old, tired, and uncertain that I could do anything.

By the morning Brigit had made me feel better after several hours of drinking a goddess's breast milk and spending the rest of the night being hugged by Deirdre.

Over the next few weeks Deirdre insisted that I had to 'worship Brigit' at least once a day because I need reassurance. The project seemed so unlikely to succeed despite all the hard work I was doing.

Often I was so tired that all I could do was sit on the floor with my back against the settee as Deirdre draped her legs across my shoulders before covering me with her skirt. Even that little was enough to summon Brigit and I found myself naked in bed with my mouth against either Deidre's of Brigit's sex while one rode my erection, when it had been aroused, and the other facesitting me.

Each session ended with my mouth full of a Brigit breast, drinking her milk - and that was enough to keep me going for another hard day of persuading people that doing something was possible, even if I didn't really believe it myself.

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I had to delegate running my business to my senior managers who did better than I had expected. I should have trusted them earlier. I needed all my time to get things moving with everyone who might be able to help.

It took two weeks before we held a confidential meeting in the council chamber. The meeting decided that we would have a limited objective - to stop drug-dealing and break up the gangs on the council estate and only when we had done that could we try to provide resources to get addicts off drugs. Unless the power of the drug-dealers and the gangs was broken, trying to help any addicts would be pointless.

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Except? Anna and Darren had effectively kidnapped Gary and had taken him to the women's refuge in Fort Inkerman. One of the women residents had been a mental health nurse, used to dealing with addicts, Anna had persuaded the women's refuge to keep Gary in the gatehouse, chained to a bed, and gradually being weaned off drugs. While he was there, no drug dealer could get at him. The women were worried about having a man on their premises but had appreciated the work Gary had done to make them safe. How Anna persuaded them? I didn't ask, but Gary was now imprisoned. He was being treated with visiting help from his doctor. But what was possible for one man with friends, wouldn't work for all the addicts.

The first task was to gather information, as much as possible. We arranged to leaflet the whole estate with the Crimestoppers number and a specific local line asking people to name and identify drug dealers and gang members. We expected interference so the leafleting was carried out in groups of four men, in touch with each other by mobile, and with a roving group of twelve troubleshooters. Those men were from the Travellers' site and my ex-army friends. They left their vehicles outside the estate guarded by more men.

As expected, the dealers and gangs reacted. But as soon as a group assembled to attack the leaflet deliverers, they were themselves attacked. One set of deliverers was stoned by youngsters. Each youngster was grabbed, taken down a back alley and beaten up where the bruises wouldn't show. The beatings didn't stop until each youngster gave their name, date of birth and address which was checked before they were released. They complained that their rights were not being respected and were told they didn't have any, their attackers were not the police and were answerable to no one.

Some parents complained to the Police but the response was:

"Your child's name, date of birth and address?"

"Thank you. That name will be added to the list of gang members, and since he is under the age of 18 will be reported to Social Services to consider whether he should be taken into care as beyond parental control. We have video evidence of his stone-throwing and may well prosecute. Anything else you would like to add?"

After a few parents got that response, the stone-throwing stopped.

Leaflets were displayed on every lamppost, and if damaged were replaced within the hour. Anyone seen damaging a leaflet was also taken down a back alley...

At first the information came in slowly, but as people began to realise that the Police, and their violent assistants meant business, more names were added to the list. The operation to arrest the drug dealers and the gang members was scheduled for a fortnight after the leafleting began. The operation called 'Operation Marmalade', started on the Friday evening.

Those who had been involved with the leafleting were designated temporary special constables for the weekend. The travellers thought that was a great joke.

The three road exits from the estate were blocked by police cars and the two footpaths had a dozen special constables watching them. Anyone trying to enter or leave the estate was stopped, searched and identified before being allowed to proceed. Several out-of-town drug dealers were arrested nearby. Nearly fifty houses were raided and the named people were taken to four prison vans situated just outside the estate, As each van was filled, those inside were taken to a special magistrates court for a hearing about whether they should be remanded in custody. The local remand prison had been prepared by moving out sixty prisoners to make room for the newcomers.

Each entrance to the estate was blocked by a chicane of plastic blocks. Normally those blocks would have been filled with water, but because an attempt to ram them was expected, they had been filled with gravel and stacked three deep. A drug gang tried to break through with a stolen van. As they came out of the vehicle carrying baseball bats they were intercepted and beaten up, so severely that they needed hospital treatment before they could be arrested. Apart from theft of the vehicle, criminal damage and carrying drugs to supply, the driver was arrested for being under the influence of drink and drugs, in charge of a stolen vehicle, uninsured, and a disqualified driver. All got prison sentences.

The police were ecstatic. They had retrieved several large stashes of drugs and many offensive weapons plus many thousands of pounds of cash that should not belong to unemployed men. Forty adults had been arrested on a variety of charges. Thirty people under 18 were taken, with their parents, to a special juvenile court. All were eventually released back into the community with suspended sentences and formal waring that any future offences would mean instant incarceration. Most were obviously suffering from extensive bruising. Those under the age of criminal responsibility were issued with Social Services care orders, removed from their parents and taken to a reopened secure children's home.

The children taken into care were unhappy, not because they were deprived of their liberty, but that their mobile phones and tablets were taken away. There was only one television, controlled by one of the social services staff and only a few programmes were allowed. Their schools had set them extensive worksheets which they were required to complete under the eye of a resident teacher. They had to get up early, eat breakfast in silence, work, and go to bed early too. They hated it and complained to the single parent who was allowed a supervised visit for half an hour every other day. They were told bluntly that any further involvement with any gang would mean that they would be in this home under care - for years...

By the end of the first week they had been joined by some of the older children who had tried to reform a gang and contact drug dealers. The older children were unhappy too but were told that they were fortunate in that they hadn't been sent to a young offenders' institution which would be far harsher.

By the end of the weekend of Operation Marmalade every known person had been arrested except two that were known to be on holiday in Greece. They would be arrested as soon as they returned. The stop and search operation on all the entrances to the council estate was continued but at a lower profile, leading to the arrests of three more drug dealers attempting to get in.

My own security, and that for my family, was a concern. Unlike the estates, we lived in a remote house off a rural road. The council obtained an order for a road closure, except for access, to that road. It was blocked with a chicane of more plastic blocks and the road blocks were manned by travellers. A car could pass slowly after the occupants had been interviewed. For anything larger, a fork lift truck had to be used to make the entrances passable.

But three drug gang members tried across country on stolen motorcycles. Two were stopped but one got through to my house and I enjoyed beating him up before the police arrived. I had to accompany Anna and Biddie on the trips to and from school, usually escorted by another car with four beefy men on board but no one tried to attack us on those runs. Perhaps that was because I was driving my ex-army wrecker, weighing twenty tons. Biddie enjoyed riding in it because she had a great view and her credibility at school was immense. No one else arrived with such noise and style.

One of the local drunks, suspected of being a wife-beater, decided there was an opportunity, in the absence of the previous drug dealers of taking over their territory. He arranged for drugs to be flown in by drone.

His drone was spotted and as it landed he was surrounded by a group of angry women. They smashed the drone with rolling pins and then turned on him. He was thoroughly beaten before being tied up with washing line. He and his drug load were loaded into a wheelbarrow and taken to the guards at the estate entrance and handed over to be collected by the police.

The local paper was supportive. One of the mothers contacted them complaining that her 'little angels' had been taken into care when they were innocent. Her sons were twelve and fourteen. The reporter interviewed her and took her sob story, but the subeditor insisted she contacted the police for a response.

The Police showed her multiple videos showing both boys throwing stones at those distributing leaflets, encouraging other children to throw stones too, and that the older boy had been making a petrol bomb. Both had already been the subject of anti-social behaviour orders for previous offences, and there was a long list of complaints against them, and their parents. A Council sub-committee in two weeks' time was to consider whether to evict them from their council house for repeated criminal behaviour.

The paper published the mother's letter and her complaints but followed it with stills from the videos and the fact of the anti-social orders. She got no sympathy from the public.

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But I had found the work of coordinating everything exhausting. To Deirdre's dismay I was drinking wine more than usual and often went to be nearly drunk and in no state to make love to her. She asked Brigit for help. As I reached for another glass of wine after an evening meal I suddenly found myself leaning back against Brigit's breasts. Her hand reached forward and took the glass out of my hand. Second later I was naked on our bed with Brigit's hands raising my erection which Deirdre claimed before I even knew she was in bed with Brigit and I. My protests were stifled by Brigit's sex covering my mouth.

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Meanwhile, the work on Gary's addiction was progressing even if he had some very bad episodes. His carers no longer needed him to be chained to a bed or actually imprisoned but he remained at the Women's Refuge gatehouse for his own safety. He was able to walk around the Industrial estate with an escort - not to stop him from running away, but to deter any drug dealers that might approach him. They didn't, probably because the CCTV on the estate was now so comprehensive.

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The volunteers, now unpaid Special Constables, kept up the road and path blocks on the council estate 24/7 to ensure no drugs came in. They couldn't stop residents going outside to buy drugs, but everyone was searched entering or leaving, no matter who they were, even me and Deirdre.