BULLIES FORCED MY DAUGHTER DOWN THE DRUG ROAD TO DEATH

A HEARTBROKEN mother has revealed how her only daughter's death from a
heroin overdose in Culloden can be traced back to being bullied as a
child.

Suzanne Shanks was a studious and athletic youngster, who had similar
hard-working friends, but comments from others at school started a
downward spiral which ultimately ended when the 30-year-old was found
dead at her flat in Alltan Court in July - one of nine drugs-related
deaths in the Inverness area so far this year.

"I think a lot of it was peer pressure," said Suzanne's mother Kate
Shanks, who was in the Highland Capital this week to encourage people
to blow the whistle on drug dealers.

"When Suzanne was 15 she started on 'speed' to get thin. She was very
muscly at school because she did a lot of sports activities and
dancing, but somebody made the comment she was fat and that set her
off with an eating disorder which she carried with her for the rest of
her life.

"She was good at school and really quite clever," Mrs Shanks
continued. "But then she got a new group of friends because it wasn't
cool to be clever any more and her dancing, athletics and everything
got put on the back burner and she wanted to go to the local disco.

"Up to that point she was always strong-willed and a good daughter - a
happy, healthy lassie right up until she took speed.

"We thought it was just teenage problems we were having with her but
unfortunately she left home just before she was 16 and went to stay
with her pal, who introduced her to her first boyfriend, who
introduced her to heroin."

At 18 years old she became addicted to the class A drug and took it
intermittently for the remaining 12 years of her life. She was on the
substitute methadone for some of the time, but went back to heroin.

Her death was made even more tragic for her parents and two brothers
because she had been drug-free for four months.

"It was quite a shock because we actually thought she was winning her
battle," recalled Mrs Shanks (57), who lays the blame squarely on drug
dealers. "We knew that when she was having urges she would drink
because that was a substitute as well.

"The last time I saw her she was drinking and I was worried and gave
her a dressing down about her drinking but she had actually sourced
some heroin which ultimately killed her. But if these drug dealers
weren't so readily available Suzanne would still be here.

"She said to me on many occasions that around every corner in every
housing estate there are maybe four or five drug dealers, so it's
really important that we do get them before any other youngsters get
addicted to it because it is a dreadful addiction that they never
really get away from."

The company director for Elgin Refrigeration Services reiterated her
heartfelt pleas to other families to stand by their children to help
them fight drugs and called on rehabilitation services to show
slightly more tolerance to those who breach the programme.

"My point to social services is that when they slip up, don't throw
them off for three weeks at a time because it forces them back onto
the street," she said.

"If a son, daughter or family member has an addiction, don't ever give
up on them. Don't be ashamed of them. It is an illness. If anyone
knows anybody in the community that is dealing drugs, please report
them because I don't want another family to have the heartache that
our family has had - it has been the sorest pain I have ever had to
endure."