Drugs steal your dreams, says minister who lost son

When Hugh McCartney was found dead in his tiny Glasgow flat last September, there was a short note on his body. "Don't feel guilty," it said. "Just feel happy I am not putting myself through any more punishment."

The note was signed "Shug", the name by which the 23-year-old man was known to his friends. His death, from a heroin overdose, might have attracted little attention but for one fact: Hugh McCartney's father, Ian, is the Cabinet Office minister responsible for the Government's anti-drugs policy.

Now Mr McCartney has spoken for the first time about the deep emotional pain caused by the death of his son and how, shortly before his death, Hugh had tried to escape from his addiction by seeking a transfer from his East End flat to put distance between himself and the drug dealers and junkies.

That was an impossible task. Hugh was a dangerously irregular user, who was also "a complex young man", according to his father. "He knew he might die from drugs," Mr McCartney said.

The minister's life was thrown into emotional turmoil by a pager message during a ministerial meeting. He instinctively knew it was about his son. It said that he should urgently telephone a number in Glasgow and was from his former wife, Jean, who had discovered their son's body.

Within an hour, his family was receiving dozens of calls from journalists hoping for the inside story about the minister and the son who died the death of a down and out. "They were pounding on our door," said Mr McCartney. He was offered five-figure sums by the tabloid press to disclose how Hugh had become an addict.

There had been one strong reason for hope that the young man might have been able to escape from the addiction before he died. Recently released from prison, he had been about to join a Prince's Trust volunteer programme in Glasgow.

Mr McCartney said he went to a Prince's Trust project near his Makerfield constituency to put into words what he felt about his son's death. He said he was speaking to the people on the scheme about their lives, but he was actually talking about Hugh's death. "Drugs are beguiling, intriguing perhaps, but ultimately so dangerous and destructive," he said. "Too many young people have thought they could ride the tiger but it is the tiger that captures them.

"It will crush your spirit, it will rob you of your self-esteem, it will smother your self-confidence, it will steal your dreams," he said. "There are many challenges you can fight and win to prove your self-worth. Turn to those challenges and you will have a full and fulfilling life."

The scarring experience has convinced him more than ever that drugs should not be legalised. "I am totally opposed to legalisation," he said. Mr McCartney said the Government's attack on drug abuse could save the lives of addicts like Hugh, who had been battling against addiction since his early teens. He said the family had talked with Hugh about his heroin addiction, but it was an experience that was impossible to share, or to understand, for those not affected by it.

At Hugh's funeral service, Mr McCartney said that, although his son had problems, the family had never seen him as a problem. Many times since his death, the family had asked themselves whether there was anything more they could have done, but Hugh's note had absolved them of blame.

The congregation at Calton Parkhead Church heard songs and hymns that Hugh McCartney had chosen for his own funeral when he realised his drug addiction was threatening his life. Among them was the joyful hymn, "All Things Bright and Beautiful".