0:00:24 > 0:00:27No matter where you go, you're always going to see smackheads.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29Rob off their own fucking nans.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31The stigma runs right across society,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34even into the recovery community.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Another one there.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38If I had carried on, I would have found hundreds.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40I got pretty much one of these in every room.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43People take the law into their own hands. It's just part of life.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46- Is it, though?- For me, yeah.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47LAUGHTER
0:00:51 > 0:00:53It's Saturday night in Manchester,
0:00:53 > 0:00:56and I'm on my way to meet a group of men
0:00:56 > 0:00:59who say they have had enough of heroin users in their area.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03And they want to tell me exactly what they are doing about it.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Apparently, their actions are so extreme
0:01:05 > 0:01:06that they're breaking the law...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10..and they are very, very cautious not to have their faces shown.
0:01:15 > 0:01:16What's it like, living round here?
0:01:16 > 0:01:18A dive.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20It is - it's full of smackheads,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22there's no jobs, there is nothing for people to do.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Do you think, from what you guys see,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28is heroin use in this area on the increase or decrease?
0:01:28 > 0:01:29Increase, definitely.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32You can see them doing it in the streets when you are walking past.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34They come out and leave needles everywhere.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Once they come up, they're just, fucking...just...
0:01:37 > 0:01:39"Eurgh, eurgh..." and that's it, they're off.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42Then it becomes your responsibility to try and clean them up.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46And did you ever report any of this to the council or the authorities,
0:01:46 > 0:01:48to clean them up?
0:01:48 > 0:01:49Yeah, but they don't do...
0:01:49 > 0:01:51All they tell you to do is put it in a container
0:01:51 > 0:01:54and take it to your local pharmacy, where they can dispose of it.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The council won't come out just to move one needle.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01They'd not come out if you found a bunch of needles here on the floor.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03I don't want my kid growing up around that shit.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Councils state they will pick up any reported needles within the day,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11but these men say they have grown so sick of the ongoing situation,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14they decided to sort it out themselves.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16But you guys don't just clean up the needles, do you?
0:02:16 > 0:02:18You clean up the users, too.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21- Yeah.- If we need to use violence, we'll use violence.
0:02:21 > 0:02:22Simple as that.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Kick the fuck out of them.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33Learn them a lesson, and more often than not, they won't come back.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37But is that not an extremely violent way to go about it?
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Doesn't matter, it is the only way you can get rid of them.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41None of them will ever ring the police, though.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43They're drug dealers, they take drugs.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45They defend their violence
0:02:45 > 0:02:47by telling me it's all to protect their turf.
0:02:49 > 0:02:50So, in some ways,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53do you guys just see yourselves as extreme neighbourhood watch?
0:02:53 > 0:02:55- Yeah, definitely.- Pretty much, yes.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56We live on the streets,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59so we want it to be a nice place to live for our children.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02And do you guys use drugs yourselves?
0:03:02 > 0:03:04I smoke weed.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06You smoke weed. What about you guys?
0:03:06 > 0:03:08- I take coke.- You take coke?
0:03:08 > 0:03:09I do as well.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Do you see it as being a bit hypocritical?
0:03:11 > 0:03:12No, not really.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Because heroin and cocaine
0:03:14 > 0:03:16are completely and utter different drugs.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20They will have to go and rob people and businesses to feed their habit,
0:03:20 > 0:03:25we can afford to pay to buy a little gram here and there at the weekend.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30I'm introduced to other members of their group...
0:03:31 > 0:03:33..and it becomes obvious that some of them
0:03:33 > 0:03:35aren't just using drugs recreationally.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40These two are quick to boast about their business dealing coke.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43How much money do you reckon you can make a day?
0:03:43 > 0:03:49Pfft... Varies, from £100-£300, to anything - depends on the day.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52It is not addictive, it's just fucking...
0:03:52 > 0:03:55- It's the money that's addictive. - Yeah, yeah, it's the dough.
0:03:55 > 0:03:56Do you want to get away from it?
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Yes, of course I do. I've got a family and that -
0:03:58 > 0:04:01but at the minute, it's money and it's where I am at.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02It's living the life that I am living.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05But not forever, not forever.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14They also share the same views on heroin users
0:04:14 > 0:04:18and reveal some shocking violent behaviour against the addicts.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21We've had run-ins where we had needles found,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24so we've fucking been and seen them, give them a good hiding,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26stabbed them a few times with their own needles,
0:04:26 > 0:04:28the dirty little bastards.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Why did you stab them with their needles?
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Because they were throwing it over people's back gardens,
0:04:33 > 0:04:36that have got kids that play in the back gardens and things.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38It is not acceptable, is it?
0:04:39 > 0:04:41But yet, you sell sniff.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Yeah, I know, but you don't get people throwing sniff
0:04:43 > 0:04:46over someone's back garden, because they are not that stupid,
0:04:46 > 0:04:47it costs too much.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49They'd rather sniff it themself.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Do you know what I mean?
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Start throwing sniff over someone's back garden,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I'll shake their fucking hand.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58But you haven't got a problem with sniff?
0:04:58 > 0:05:00No, have I fuck.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Have you ever seen sniff users become crack users?
0:05:04 > 0:05:05Yeah, once or twice.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And then what happens when they become crack users?
0:05:10 > 0:05:13- Crackheads, aren't they?! - HE LAUGHS
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Fuckin' hell.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19In their world, there is a definite drug hierarchy
0:05:19 > 0:05:23that puts coke users at the top and heroin users right at the bottom.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28It also allows them to justify their illegal actions.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38This morning, I'm going to go and meet with one of the lads
0:05:38 > 0:05:41and take him up on his offer of looking at some of the problem areas
0:05:41 > 0:05:42where we might find some needles.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51I mean, generally, what's this land used for?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Now it's just wasteland until they develop it.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57A lot of people use it for walking their dogs and stuff.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00But again, at night-time, you have got the smackheads.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02So what have you got there?
0:06:02 > 0:06:05- Wow.- That is a new one, that, that's recent.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Just bending that over so my dog doesn't...
0:06:08 > 0:06:10or any other dogs don't get stabbed by it.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12Do kids play up here?
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Yeah, quite a few kids play up here.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16They mainly play on the hill,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18because we try and stop them coming round here.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23He tells me that heroin users often camp out in this field,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28and when the group find them, they want them out immediately.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29We come over to them and say,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31"Get off the field, you've got ten minutes to go,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33"or we're coming back."
0:06:33 > 0:06:35We come back ten minutes later and they were still here,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38so we just battered them and sent them on their way.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Do you think it's necessary, that level of violence?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43If you had kids,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45would you like them to see someone digging smack in front of them?
0:06:46 > 0:06:49This is a place we set on fire, again, if you look here -
0:06:49 > 0:06:52there's hundreds of them around here.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55More here, look, needles out on show.
0:06:56 > 0:06:57You burnt them out of here?
0:06:57 > 0:07:03Yeah, got a load of flammable liquid and set it all on fire.
0:07:05 > 0:07:06One of me friends filmed it.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Right, so that is right here.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Yeah, and then the flame, there, we set it on fire.
0:07:13 > 0:07:14'No more smackheads.'
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- What did you say then? - We said, "No more smackheads."
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I just moved a bit of that, then,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25and could have stabbed myself on that.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27- Another one there.- Oh, yeah.
0:07:29 > 0:07:30We have probably collected about 30
0:07:30 > 0:07:33in the time we have had a quick walk around the field.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35If I had carried on searching through all that,
0:07:35 > 0:07:36I would have had hundreds.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39I don't want to be holding them, to be honest.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41What I'll do, I'll put them all in this shoe
0:07:41 > 0:07:44and put them in the fire later.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45The quantity of needles
0:07:45 > 0:07:48do point to a vast number of addicts in the area,
0:07:48 > 0:07:52and I wonder if he has ever thought about or tried to understand
0:07:52 > 0:07:55the situation of the people who leave them behind.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57If someone is suffering with an addiction,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59what are your thoughts on that?
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Do you feel empathy for them? Do you feel sympathy?
0:08:01 > 0:08:03I don't feel sorry for smackheads, cos it's their own choice,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05it is their own choice in life.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07They choose to inject themselves with this.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09But do you think, perhaps, life can...
0:08:11 > 0:08:14..bring it upon you, you lose opportunities,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16anyone can become a heroin addict?
0:08:16 > 0:08:20No matter how hard life gets, I would never turn to this.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Do you know anyone who has become a heroin addict?
0:08:22 > 0:08:24No.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28And if any of my mates started on heroin and smacking up,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31then they would just have the bloody shit kicked out of them.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Cos it's disgusting, it is disgusting, I don't associate...
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I don't associate with smackheads and stuff like that.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Even if your own father became a heroin addict?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41If my dad became a heroin addict, I would stab him.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44No two ways about that.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49It is a zero tolerance approach.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51One which he adopts at home as well.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55He seems to have reason to worry about violent break-ins
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and he shows me an arsenal of weapons he keeps to defend himself.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04I've got pretty much one of these in every room.
0:09:04 > 0:09:05That's quite a collection.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07I've got some more in there.
0:09:07 > 0:09:08- You've got some more?- Yeah.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14You've got a knuckle-duster thing there...
0:09:14 > 0:09:17I will stash them in the corner of the room like that,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19downstairs, upstairs, whatever.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22If I hear someone coming through my front door, just run down,
0:09:22 > 0:09:24grab that and go down with it.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28So people having weapons in their house has become the norm for you?
0:09:28 > 0:09:30I've always seen it.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32I never seen it when I was at home,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34but at mates' houses with shotguns and all that sort of stuff,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39hid in corners and people taking the law into their own hands, you know.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43I think it's a very lack of faith in the police, just part of life.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- Is it, though?- For me, yeah.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50- Wow.- I'll show you that one.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52However they justify it though,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56he's part of a violent group who target heroin users.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00People already criminalised and stigmatised by their addiction.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09There are just under 300,000 heroin and crack cocaine users in England
0:10:09 > 0:10:13and those aged 40 and above now make up the largest number of addicts.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20At a soup kitchen, I meet 47-year-old Darren.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22He tells me he had been using heroin for 24 years
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and was recently assaulted.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27I understand you got attacked?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30- Yeah.- And what happened?
0:10:30 > 0:10:34What's happened, when I'd been stood on the front of this pub,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39he'd seen somebody come out to me and then he's come running over.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Oh, my goodness, so right in your lungs, there.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Yeah, it's punctured me lung and me liver,
0:10:44 > 0:10:45I was in hospital for five days.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48He knows that I probably won't report it.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52- Why, though?- Because it's...
0:10:52 > 0:10:53I'm using drugs.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56I don't want to... Do you know what I mean?
0:10:56 > 0:11:01..be blowing it up because he tried to attack me.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Tell me a bit about the stigma over the years.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08It weren't so much then, because it was all shush.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12But as it has progressed, it's more and more on the scene now,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15the last ten, 12, 15 years.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17It is horrible, walking down the street
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and you get young kids saying, "Smackhead," you know.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23It makes you feel like that, you know what I mean?
0:11:23 > 0:11:26I just put my hood up and carry on walking.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Not all people, or what they call junkies,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32go out and drop needles in the street.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35People have got consciences, do you know what I mean?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37People will do things right.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43Once you've seen one person do it, they label everybody the same.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46The majority of people who inject heroin are good people, you know.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49The point is, you get dragged down because you're taking drugs
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and you have to do stupid things to get them.
0:11:53 > 0:11:59They don't really have a clue what's going on in my life.
0:11:59 > 0:12:00It's a hard life.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Pete, an ex-heroin user,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16knows too well the hardships of being an addict,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and recently set up a support group
0:12:18 > 0:12:20to help people reintegrate into society.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23He introduces me to Steve,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25who is currently in treatment for addiction.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Why do you think society has this view of heroin users?
0:12:29 > 0:12:32I'll tell you why, cos you take a few case studies,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37a few of the darkest examples, and hold that up
0:12:37 > 0:12:41as a means to frighten people away from it.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Drug addicts stigmatise other drug addicts,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47so I've come into contact with people who say,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51"I am addicted to cocaine, but I'm not addicted to heroin."
0:12:51 > 0:12:54So it's like, even within addictions,
0:12:54 > 0:12:57heroin is right at the bottom, so...
0:12:59 > 0:13:02..the stigma runs right across society,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04even into the recovery community.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09It is because society sees... associates heroin with needles.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13I mean, how tough is it, if you are in the state of addiction,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16are you responsible to pick up your needles?
0:13:16 > 0:13:17Or is there a bigger issue here?
0:13:17 > 0:13:21A bigger issue. That's a minority, again.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Most of the places that you will see...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26And it's not right, to have used needles near kids' parks
0:13:26 > 0:13:27and blah, blah, blah.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31But the majority of that will be, and I'm not stigmatising...
0:13:31 > 0:13:34homeless people, but they haven't got a roof over their heads
0:13:34 > 0:13:35to go and use their opiates.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Do you think that heroin users have reported
0:13:41 > 0:13:44crimes that have happened to them?
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Heroin users, just by using the drug, it's a criminal act.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Society doesn't listen to them anyway,
0:13:51 > 0:13:53so why would a police officer?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56In all my time being with an addiction,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I've never seen anybody that has been...
0:13:59 > 0:14:02had a crime committed against them go and report it.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10So it's really no surprise that
0:14:10 > 0:14:13the anonymous group I met earlier remain unpunished.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21So the lads I've met with are pretty extreme,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23it's obvious they have very extreme views, I think,
0:14:23 > 0:14:24a lot more than society,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29but I do think society holds a grudge against the heroin user.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Now, the lads clearly have such issues,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I think it's gone beyond that.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39They've created their own nightmares of what a heroin user is.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Protecting their community, I think, is an excuse.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I return to a party back at one of the group's house.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55- What's that? - I had a few beers, got angry.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59So I just threw my iPhone into the wall.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- You kept it in there?- Yeah, it looks quite nice as a feature.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05HE LAUGHS
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Outside, two of them prepare to light a fire.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16We'll get the shoe with the needles that we got earlier,
0:15:16 > 0:15:18just fill that full of the solvent.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38That will keep that set on fire,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40which will melt all the needles.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47So, is the fire burning the needles almost like a ritual for you guys?
0:15:47 > 0:15:50You could put it like that. Every other week, we'll have a fire,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54collect them all up and burn them all, then just have a few beers.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56So, how long will you carry on doing this?
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Until I've a good life - a nice, clean area with no smackheads about.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01And I'll keep doing that till I die.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20So, as odd as it may sound,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22I'm really pleased that I've met those guys,
0:16:22 > 0:16:24because they've actually opened my eyes
0:16:24 > 0:16:29to wider society's prejudice against the heroin user.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33But I do think, although they are an extreme case,
0:16:33 > 0:16:34it does beg the question that,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36if these crimes aren't going to be reported,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39how many other groups like this exist across the country?