![Moral Support: Tony Trimingham and, in the background, a picture of his son Damien, who died of a drug overdose. Mr Trimingham heads an organisation that gives support to families affected by drug use. Moral Support: Tony Trimingham and, in the background, a picture of his son Damien, who died of a drug overdose. Mr Trimingham heads an organisation that gives support to families affected by drug use.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3AijacentBN9GedHCvcASxG/5b1596fd-4a7b-435a-bfae-80bafc1237b5.jpg/r0_67_1822_1199_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Drug addicts can’t be forced into treatment, campaigner Tony Trimingham says.
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Mr Trimingham’s son Damien died of a heroin overdose when he was 22.
The Newcastle Herald reported recently about a grandmother who was in despair over her 16-year-old grandson’s addiction to the drug ice.
He wasn’t alone. Crime statistics showed offences for amphetamines possession had risen sharply in the Hunter in the past year.
The grandmother’s family had been unable to encourage the boy to get help and did not know what else to do.
Mr Trimingham, chief executive of Family Drug Support, said he understood the grandmother’s feelings.
“The reality is you can’t get them into treatment if they’re not willing to go,” he said.
“If you’re a family member [of a drug addict], we recommend you get support for yourself.
“We can provide that.”
Mr Trimingham recommended that affected families “do everything you can to keep them safe and well”.
“You try and encourage better communication and use strategies to cope with things that might get out of hand, like aggressive behaviour,” he said.
Family members could encourage loved ones into treatment, but shouldn’t push too hard.
“We know from 20 years of doing this work that the harder you push them to go into treatment, the less they’re likely to go,” he said.
“You’ve almost got to back off a bit and wait until they’re ready.”
Mr Trimingham said the success rate of addicts getting off the drug ice was good.
“People can and do give it up,” he said.
The organisation advised affected families to “hang in there and don’t lose hope, even though it’s difficult”.
“Sooner or later, people generally do make decisions to change,” he said.
“It can’t be forced.”
He said there was “no way any treatment service will take somebody in who’s been forced to go by their family”.
“They do a rigorous assessment to make sure they’re willing and ready and only take the ones who are showing those real inclinations.”
Craig Stephens, manager of The Salvation Army’s Dooralong Transformation Centre, said “evidence shows that treatment not only helps, it works”.
Mr Stephens witnessed people’s lives being “spectacularly transformed”.
“There is help and there is hope,” he said.
Mr Trimingham said ice-use appeared to be “levelling off and coming down”, with heroin now on the rise.
“Unfortunately when one drug goes down, another one does tend to take its place.”
The Family Drug Support has a helpline that runs around the clock at 1300 368 186.
Its website is fds.org.au.