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Misery of drugs: The phone rings...and another friend has died
WHEN Jez Lewis got a phone call to say another of his childhood friends had died, he had to act.
Armed with his video camera, the film-maker returned to his home town of Hebden Bridge intent of finding out why so many of the people from the area have died from drink and drugs.
The resulting film – Shed Your Tears and Walk Away – has highlighted the shocking extent of addiction in the picturesque town.
He discovered people as young as 10 were getting hold of drugs – by asking a 12-year-old, who will ask a 14-year-old, who will ask a 16-year-old to buy them.
And he learnt that many of the drugs being abused were available legitimately on prescription, such as methadone, sleeping pills and temazepam.
"It's extraordinary," he said. "When I asked one man he said around a third of the drugs he had taken were illegal but two thirds were prescription."
The film centres on Jez's friend Cass, whose drug-taking and heavy drinking led doctors to give him just two years to live.
Already off drugs but still drinking, Cass is followed as he battles to give up alcohol, seeing him travel to London to escape the feeling of fatalism he has in Hebden Bridge.
Jez said the idea for the film had been suggested to him before, but he did not want to do it.
But when the funeral of a close friend from a heroin overdose became the latest in a string he had attended, he said he was compelled to find out why so many of his friends were dying.
The film was shot between the summer of 2007 and December 2008. In that time 11 young people died.
They include Sam Jones, from Mytholmroyd, who was just 25 when he was killed by a drink and drugs overdose.
In the film, his brother Liam and mother Michelle speak of their devastation at Sam's death, and the impact it has had on the family.
Jez says Liam encouraged his filming, saying it was important to show what was going on in the area.
Tragically Liam was found dead after a heroin overdose in Wainhouse Terrace, King Cross, Halifax, in November last year.
He had been battling his addiction, attending a rehab centre in Newcastle and staying clean for seven months, before he took the hit that killed him.
Jez said: "I've learnt how complex the whole issue is in terms of how people get to this.
"The thing that was most notable was the this situation gets normalised in their minds.
"Cass said to me 'Round here you kill yourself or die anyway'." One young man interviewed in the film claims: "Hebden Bridge is a drugs town with a tourist problem."
Jez said: "The message of the film for me is something Liam and Sam's mum Michelle said.
"She said what she wanted was for people to stop living in denial. I truly believe that Hebden Bridge is one of the most dynamic communities anywhere.
"If the people of Hebden Bridge decide to take action, they will succeed."
The documentary has received critical acclaim from reviewers and has had screenings in various places across the country, including Hebden Bridge Picture House.
Jez said he had had feedback from people as far away as New Zealand, Holland and Australia saying they recognised the problems in the film as those in their towns.
He hopes the film will be shown in schools as a warning to the young.
*Now see the film
The Samaritans are organising a screening of Shed Your Tears and Walk Away. It will be shown at Hebden Bridge Picture House on Wednesday, September 22, followed by a question-and-answer session with a panel including Jez Lewis. The forum will be filmed by the BBC. Tickets are free. Doors open 7pm.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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