'We aren't all criminals,' reformed drug users tell Bonnici

Reformed drug couple meet Justice Minister • Video by Ray Attard

Two reformed drug addicts who for years struggled with their addiction insisted that prison was not the answer to the drug problem but what victims of drug abuse required was support and uninterrupted rehabilitation services.

Wendy Busuttil, 38, and Kenneth Caruana, 34 have been clean for five years. Welcoming Justice Minister Owen Bonnici in their tiny flat, the couple told the minister a now all-too-familiar story of a gradual descent into drug-use hell, starting from alcohol before moving on to cannabis, to finally abusing heroin and cocaine.

Caruana described their efforts to get clean as “a martyrdom” and said that it was wrong to expect addicts to quit drug use overnight.

Prison just makes you angry Kenneth Caruana, ex-drug user

He had no hesitation in saying his term in prison was counter-productive. “All it does is make you angry” he said, sitting in their kitchen surrounded by toys belonging to their children. “Beatings and shouting get you nowhere.”

“Prison just makes it worse,” Wendy added.

The Ministry for Justice is currently holding a public consultation process on the proposed reform of drug laws. Listening to their views, Bonnici reiterated the need to help drug users: “Society gains nothing from sending you to prison. We must help victims of drug abuse as they are not the criminals.”

Congratulating the couple, Bonnici said they were doing a great job as role models for other drug users.

Busuttil was in no doubt that the system must change and that drug addicts are not all thieves and prostitutes. “I always worked when I was using. I never harmed anyone but myself,” she said.

Her problems didn’t end when her drug use did and she described being made to feel like an outcast at her workplace when she returned. Co-workers would look askance at her and treat her differently.  

“I wanted to die,” she said, adding that finding a job with drug charges on your criminal record is well nigh impossible.

The best way forward, according to the two ex-addicts, was community work and counselling: “The more you talk to a person, the better. Today, concerned parents come to me for advice.”

Under the proposed law on drug decriminalisation, drug users will no longer face a court sentence but instead appear in front of a justice commissioner and if necessary, a board made up of subject-matter experts.

Earlier this month, Bonnici had told a consultative seminar on the proposed White Paper that the reforms would tackle the emotional, psychological and social problems caused by drug abuse.

“The government is against legalising drugs but in favour of more flexibility in courts when handing down sentences, especially to first-time offenders,” Bonnici had said.