Across Wales there has been a significant rise in heroin deaths, from less than 60 in 2000 to almost 160 in 2016.
NHS Wales figures show referrals where crack cocaine is the main problematic substance are rising steadily from 118 in 2012/13 to 161 in 2016/17.
However it is still in a minority for now -making up just under one percent of referrals, with alcohol (52.8 percent) and heroin (18.5 percent) having the most referrals.
Rhiannon has seen the availability of crack cocaine rise, with drug dealers targeting heroin users and aggressively marketing the two together, offering deals.
The phenomenon is exacerbated by the fact that drugs are being made more easily available by serious criminal gangs from large English cities such as London, Birmingham and Liverpool.
These gangs then send vulnerable teenagers to smaller cities such as Swansea to deal for them – police describe this enterprise as County Lines dealing.
Rhiannon said she previously wanted to be a vet because of her love of animals.
She said her pet Staffy Joe has saved her life a few times and has given her the responsibility of having someone to care fore.
She said: “There is so much more to me than the drugs I take but that is all people focus on.”
Rhiannon said she is conscious of the dangers of her drug use and is aware that she has lost friends to drugs, including one who died from an overdose while she was with him.
Despite all this, she says the the pull of the drugs is too strong and now she finds it hard to find a vein.
She was homeless for 12 years and was stabbed which resulting in her losing a kidney.
After the attack she was given a home but was also diagnosed with PTSD, as well as depression.
She said: “I would love not to have an addiction. Addiction comes with a huge stigma. I think a lot of people think ‘they are scumbags and bad people’.
“It makes me feel angry and sad. There are always reasons behind someone’s drug use – nobody becomes a drug addict because they want to.
“It is not a choice, drugs are a coping mechanism. They do not fix your problems, but they help you forget about them.
“Drugs are wrecking families and communities. I want to break some of the stigma and change perceptions.”
She added: “I know I could never get clean living in Swansea.
“In the past 10 years, I have seen such an influx of heroin and crack – there is so much more of it than there was a few years back.
“Crack and heroin come hand in hand – it is an epidemic.”
‘It is an epidemic’ according to the 12-year drug addict Rhiannon ( Image: Jonathan Myers)South Wales Police’s detective chief inspector Helen Woodward said that, unfortunately some towns in Wales have large numbers of drug users, and drug dealers will always exploit areas where there is a demand for their products.
She said: “This is not a problem unique to Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, however, as organised criminals involved in county lines rarely confine their illegal activities to one area; often thinking they’re untouchable as they travel up and down the country.
“The rise in the number of county lines gangs operating across the UK has had an impact on the quantities of Class A drugs being dealt in the area, and we are finding that there is no shortage of drugs for those wishing to buy them.
“Sadly, it’s become normalised for people to see a drug user in the street, or street dealing taking place, and it’s concerning that people aren’t contacting the police to report what they’re seeing.”
Ms Woodward added: “Local communities have a vital role to play in helping us to do this; they cannot turn a blind eye to this kind of criminality. Without the community pulling together, we are fighting a losing battle.
“I’d urge the public to work with us, telling us what they know and sharing their suspicions and concerns.”
Anyone with any information about illegal drug activity in their community should contact 101, or 999 in an emergency.
<a href=”https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/harrowing-reality-drug-addiction-210-18825721
America On Coffee 
Studies have shown that faith based centers have much higher recovery rates than others..
Here in the U.S. they are not tough on crime so the drug dealers are free to peddle their poison..
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It may surprise many to learn that vaxx companies are a big part of the drug cartel.
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