This blog was written by Jane Slater, Anyone’s Child campaign manager

14 July is our three year anniversary – here are some of the highlights from the past three years:

“When I joined Anyone’s Child I wasn’t sure what I had to offer the group – but I knew my boys would have wanted me to be part of it. Our family felt stigmatised because my sons used drugs and I felt shut out and ashamed. Today I can claim I’ve given a number of presentations in the House of Commons, appeared on GMTV and spoken to numerous journalists and media outlets. I have found my voice again having kept so much secret for so long.” Rose Humphries lost two sons to heroin overdoses.

We need your help today – email your MP to save lives and protect our communities In the UK drug-related deaths are at a record high, our prisons are in crisis and drugs are getting stronger. The situation is out of control and MPs refuse to face the facts. We want you to contact your MP directly to ask what they intend to do about our failed drug laws. Regardless of whether you voted for them or not, it’s their job to represent and listen to all their constituents. Click the button below to visit the UK parliament website, where you can find your MP’s email address. You can copy and paste the template email we’ve produced here, or write your own if you prefer. Please bcc info@anyoneschild.org into all emails, and forward any response to us so that we can keep track of which MPs are contacted, and what they say.

Families assemble in Westminster July 14th 2015. We handed in a letter to the then Prime Minister David Cameron calling for an independent review of drug policy

Anyone's Child families at the United Nations

Anyone’s Child headed to New York to the United Nations for the 2016 UNGASS (United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs). Families were present in record numbers to raise the need for drug policy reform at this historic meeting

At this UN meeting in New York Canadian mum, Donna May, was directly referenced by the Canadian Health Minister, Jane Philpott when she announced Canada’s plans to reform. Canada has now become the first G7 country to legalise cannabis and is currently exploring innovations with other drugs.

As Jane Philpott, Former Canadian Minister of Health, Speaking at the UNGASS said:

 “In preparation for this event, I met with a group of NGOs… But the most powerful voice of all belonged to a mother.  She was there to tell the story of her young daughter, who lost her life due to complications of substance use. She described watching her daughter slip away, as she struggled to access the treatment and services that may have saved a beautiful, fragile life.  Stories like this are far too commonplace. Today, I stand before you as Canada’s Minister of Health, to acknowledge that we must do better for our citizens.”

Anyone’s Child has now appeared in a vast array of media outlets (averaging 60 media hits per year) including the Mail on Sunday, the Guardian, Closer Magazine, Good Housekeeping, local and national radio and the Telegraph.

“My life ended when I lost my two sons Torin and Jacques so unexpectedly in one night. I never wanted to join a group like Anyone’s Child – but having lost everything, I feel that it’s all I can do now – to try and stop others from having to go through what I’ve been through- and for me that means campaigning for the legal control and regulation of drugs.” Ray Lakeman, who lost both his sons to ecstasy overdoses.

International families came together for the Commission on Narcotic Drugs 60th Session. The event was hosted by Czech drug tsar Jindrich Voboril:

“I support the Anyone’s Child project because all of the policies, papers, acts and decisions only matter if it can be positively translated into real personal stories. Anyone’s Child is a project that in my view should reach a very wide audience and that is why we sponsored their side events on the UN grounds”

 

International Anyone’s Child groups join together to tell their stories to policy makers at the annual CND

Anne-Marie Cockburn, Martha’s mum appears on newsnight. This has now had over 10 million views.

Anne-Marie Cockburn headed to parliament for the June 2017 drug debate on the UK drug strategy. Her story and six of the other Anyone’s Child families were directly referenced throughout the debate as MPs  in record numbers called for a re-examination of current drug policy.

Norman Lamb MP quoted Anne-Marie Cockburn as she watched from the public gallery:

“Let me quote Anne-Marie Cockburn—she has been mentioned in the debate—from the Anyone’s Child project: ‘I invite the Prime Minister to come and stand by my daughter’s grave, and tell me her approach to drugs is working.’ That is a parent who lost their daughter as a result of the current approach to drug policy.”

Jeff Smith MP told the story of Cara Lavan, his friend and an Anyone’s Child campaigner:

“My friend Cara’s son is five tomorrow. It will be his third birthday without his father Jake, who died of a heroin overdose. Cara wants to legalise drugs to end the stigma around drug use and to end the unnecessary criminalisation of drug users that made it so hard for her family to deal with Jake’s addiction, and makes it more difficult for people to seek help with drug problems.”

September 2017 Anyone’s Child is launched in Belgium fronted by Peter Muyshondt a serving senior police officer. You can read more about Peter and his story here

November 2017 Anyone’s Child Kenya is launched in Mombasa. Find out more our Kenyan partnership here

Anyone’s Child worked in partnership with Bristol University and partners in Mexico to develop an innovative i-documentary to tell the stories from families living on the front line of the global drug war. Watch the i-doc here

Anyone’s Child Families assemble in record numbers in Westminster as part of our Day of Action June 26th 2018.We met with 23 MPs on the day and a further 11 have agreed to meet with our families and activists.


Anyone's Child families outside parliament with MPs

If you’d like to get more involved please email info@anyoneschild.org. Or please write to your MP to demand that drug policy must change. For more information and a template letter click here.

We would like to say an enormous ‘thank-you’ to everyone who has been involved, including our amazing families, activists and to all the trusts and individuals who have believed in us. In particular we would like to thank the following trusts that have supported us: Open Society Foundation, Tudor Trust and the John Ellerman Foundation.

Change is happening and families are now at the forefront of demanding change to our failed drug laws. We will not go away and will keep fighting until change happens. As Decca Aitkenhead, Anyone’s Child patron said:

“There can be few laws more gobsmackingly stupid – and scarily dangerous – than our current drugs policy. Like anyone with children, I want to protect mine, which is why I wholeheartedly support Anyone’s Child. What they are campaigning for is self-evidently sensible, and the sooner we can help them achieve it the safer all our children will be.”