GWENT’S police and crime commissioner (PCC) met recovering substance users to see how a treatment scheme is helping them to battle their addictions.

PCC Jeff Cuthbert visited the Chambers House Treatment Centre in Blackwood, to witness how support from the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service (GDAS) has changed people’s lives.

Launched last year, the GDAS works with substance misusers who are referred for treatment voluntarily or come into contact with the criminal justice system.

As part of the visit, the PCC met 42-year-old Andrew Lee Pursey, 46-year-old Ian Littlewood and the Chambers House team who support them to hear about their work.

Both men have also been receiving treatment from the criminal justice element of GDAS, called Gwent Integrated Recovery Interventions Service (IRIS) which was established to help people with substance misuse problems.

Mr Pursey, of Bargoed, has no doubt that he would be back behind bars if it wasn’t for the support from the Gwent IRIS team, which helped him kick his heroin habit.

“I was always waking up in the morning clucking for heroin, wanting to die and being aggressive to everybody who got in my way,” he said.

“Gwent IRIS has been fantastic. They provided me with counselling, stuck by me and offered me lots of support to get me through.

“Offenders have to realise that they need to make the changes themselves and throw everything they’ve got into doing it.”

Ian Littlewood, of Ebbw Vale, has been a heroin addict for more than 25 years and estimates he has been in and out of prison around 300 times for shoplifting and stealing to feed his habit.

The 46-year-old is hoping to turn his life around with support from Gwent IRIS and has been clean from heroin since February.

“They persevere with you here and give you a number of chances. I feel much better now I’m off the heroin but I realise there is still a long way to go,” he said.

Gwent PCC Jeff Cuthbert said substance abuse is a factor that can “make it hard for people to break away from offending”.

“This is absolutely essential in relation to my focus on preventing crime by tackling its root cause,” he added.

The service is funded by the Gwent Substance Misuse Area Planning Board with support from the PCC, Welsh Government, local authorities, Aneurin Bevan health board and the National Offender Management Service.