GARY is in his thirties and is dying of AIDS. He contracted it through heroin use. He is quite weak and he says he no longer uses heroin. He is stabilised on methadone, without which he cannot function.
Gary left school early and has never had a job. He has been in and out of prison since he was a teenager.
Gary started using heroin in his late teens after a stint in prison. Before prison he and his friends had been into cider. But when he came out, his friends were using heroin and he joined in.
When he started injecting heroin no one knew about HIV or AIDS, but even when he found out, he still took risks. All heroin users do, he says. "It's a long way to walk [to a needle exchange] if you need a fix now.
Gary lives with his partner and their children and receives counselling. He says he is "very unhappy" with the service from the central clinics, which insisted he personally collected his methadone when he was very ill. So he pays privately for his methadone. It costs him £36 a week out of his social welfare.
Gary feels "passionately" that anti-drug education for young people is central to preventing drug use.