Dungiven Mother shares her late son's story to keep childen away from drugs

By Adam Evans

A Mother whose son died from a Methadone overdose is urging young people across Northern Ireland to stay away from drugs.

Teresa Burke's son Kealan spent the last months of his life in a vegatative state. Now Teresa, who's from Dungiven goes to schools and colleges, sharing his story.

She's said, "I show pictures of when he was lying dying for a year and a half and videos of it and they are so very difficult to watch that I'm hoping it will educate these youngsters".

It's come as the Mid and East Antrim Police and Community Safety Partnership releases a new video to tackle prescription drug misuse.

The video is aimed at both young people who may relate to the video and/or adults in their life who may want someone to talk to.

The Chair of MEA PCSP Cllr Brian Collins said, “This video campaign highlights that drug misuse can affect all ages and genders. It also encourages people to talk about the issues that may be affecting them, or someone they know. This is such an important issue for the borough and the PCSP has worked hard with its dedicated Drug and Alcohol Steering Group to help provide services, promote them and now to raise awareness of the work they are doing.

“Two years ago, the Mid and East Antrim PCSP Drugs and Alcohol Steering Group was started with just four organisations. Today, the group has over thirty bodies working together to resolve some of the long-standing, difficult issues that the most vulnerable in our society face and they are making a real difference on the ground.

“This campaign is extremely important as we want to raise awareness of the dangers of drug and alcohol misuse at an early age to stop it developing into a serious health issue later in life. I would like to thank all the members of the Steering Group and our Statutory Partners for their support in launching this initiative, but also their feedback and input that made it all possible.”