WHEN Andy looks into the future he can see no hope for himself.

He thinks there is little chance of his life ever changing for the better.

Andy, 35, has been a drug addict or a "user" for the last seven years and injects between £20 and £40 worth of heroin into his veins each day.

The story of the Blackburn-born addict is enough to terrify any parent whose son or daughter goes dancing in the popular house clubs and raves that still take place across East Lancashire.

Ten years ago Andy had everything going for him; a well paid job, his own house and a girlfriend.

He said: "I used to have a lot of responsibility, I drove a company car and often had to work away. I had an expense account and would stay in hotels."

The rave scene was at its height ten years ago and Andy started taking drugs like LSD, magic mushrooms and Ecstasy when he went to the clubs. He said "Someone introduced me to heroin. It was a very different drug to what I had been used to.

"I used to take it on Saturday nights, and then Friday and Saturdays and then during the week.

"Everybody kids themselves into thinking they are not getting addicted but before I knew it I was injecting it every single day. "I always said I would never become an addict. I thought I would be intelligent enough to stop when it began to get a problem."

Andy is painfully thin, lives in a seedy bed and breakfast hostel and owns just one set of clothes. His house is being repossessed and he his estranged from his family, childhood friends, his girlfriend and their child.

He said: "People know you are a drug addict but they are too embarrassed to talk about it. I am not proud of what I have become. My old girlfriend is a single parent who has to work hard to make ends meet.

"I make all these promises and tell her I will give her some money but we both know I am lying."

Andy is unusual for a drug addict because he has not been to prison but is in court next week on burglary charges.

He said: "When we were young we didn't have much but my mum bought us up properly and she had values.

"If you are an addict, nearly all the money you get goes on the heroin as soon as it is in your pocket.

"There are places all over Blackburn where you can get it from. Mobile phones are the fashion these days with the dealers."

Andy added: "You have to steal to keep feeding the habit. Most of it is opportunistic theft. If I see a door left open I will go through it. "I try not to steal from people. The way I think, if I steal from a business then no one gets hurt and the insurance company is the one who is left to pay the bill.

"I am not the sort of person who would rob an old woman. Most days I just wander round looking for something to steal."

"When I see normal people in the street I get really jealous of them because they have no worries."

"The thing about heroin is that it is never off your mind, you are always thinking about the next score.

"It is a horrible drug because you can't eat properly, you can't sleep properly, your bones ache, it takes over your whole life.

Andy went on: "There are two crowds in the town, the drinkers and the drug users and the two don't mix at all.

"There are some really nasty people out there who wouldn't think twice about stabbing you if they had to.

"I don't like myself at all and I don't like what I have become, if I could take a magic pill right now to take me back to before I become hooked then I would do it."

He added: "The same faces that were into the dance scene ten years ago are still around but they are all into the heroin now.

"Even though taking Ecstasy at house clubs was the best time of my life I don't believe in legalising soft drugs at all.

"Taking any sort of drug opens your mind up to experiences and you are more inclined to experiment."

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