BRANDISHING a machete, Paul looks menacingly into the camera as he explains owning the deadly weapon is the only way he feels able to defend himself and his home.
He’s already been stabbed multiple times in the chest and needed a metal plate fitted into his skull after an attack from drug addicts trying to steal his stash.
Paul, who has used crack cocaine for more than 20 years, is among an alarming number of people addicted to the highly lethal drug in South Wales.
Once known as "God's country" thanks to its boundless, rolling valleys, Wales has been dubbed "crack land" by a former addict due to the illegal rock-like substance spreading like wildfire from cities into rural villages.
The shocking rise of crack cocaine use in South Wales is the focus of the final episode of the BBC documentary series Drugs Map Of Britain, which airs tonight.
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It reveals a worrying number of young people are getting hooked on the drug, and dealers say some users have even ripped radiators from their homes to sell in order to fund their addiction.
Revealing his scars, Paul tells the doc: “I’ve not had a good time with it. I got stabbed all up through here, four through there, two through my ribs, through my neck.
“I’ve got a metal skull with 18 stitches in my head, I’ve got burns. You name it, it’s happened. But if you live by it, as they say, you’ll end up dying by it.”
'People are getting killed over it'
Crack is a stronger form of cocaine that can be smoked through a glass pipe, tube, plastic bottle or foil.
It’s become a growing problem in Wales, where in the five years up to 2019, deaths from the drug increased fourfold.
Referrals for substance abuse services for crack also soared by 57 per cent in Wales in the five years up to 2021.
Addicts blame the increase on the accessibility of the drug, once only available in the cities, but now infiltrating the Valleys – an area stretching between Carmarthenshire, Monmouthshire, Vale of Glamorgan and seaside towns.
Drug dealer Reece, who’s been to prison several times for selling illegal substances, tells the doc: “Crack is definitely a massive problem around here, it’s hit big time.
“More people are doing it. Where before they would be sniffing coke, now they’ve moved onto crack.
“They’ve sold the radiators in their homes, things like that, it’s bad. People are getting stabbed, people are getting killed over it.”
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'Crack land'
Ex-addict Cullen is concerned about the rise in crack usage in Wales.
The 31-year-old, who started using at 17, now volunteers for the charity Kaleidoscope, after believing recovery “wasn’t possible” for him.
He says the charity is regularly contacted by young people who “don’t know where to run”.
“They call it (Wales) God’s land - I think recently it’s more like crack land," he admits.
“The amount of people who are contacting me to get help, it’s clearly a massive problem amongst the younger generation.
“I have to say it is like the new cocaine and it is so easy to get addicted to. It’s just so powerful... It’s that invisible pass-over that people don’t realise they are going through, from cocaine to crack.
"I thought my life was over one year into addiction."
Big profits
Crack cocaine is a Class A drug and carries the maximum penalty of life in prison for those caught dealing, but that isn’t enough to deter some from engaging in the trade.
Reece claims to “hate risking my freedom every day” to sell drugs but enjoys the sizeable profits that can be made.
When it’s in your head, you’re literally willing to do anything to get it. I believe the rest of my life is going to be controlled by drugs
Recovering addict Richard
Another dealer, Glenn, makes crack cocaine in his kitchen to increase his takings and claims to deliver “every hour or two, all day every day”.
“An ounce of cocaine costs you, say £900, when you break that down into shots, it’s £2,500,” he says.
“I used to be hard on myself thinking, ‘I’m ruining lives,’ but if I don't do it someone is going to do it, aren’t they?”
'Couldn't function'
A 2019 Home Office Report found the stigma associated with using crack cocaine has reduced.
It was described as “more acceptable, even fashionable, among groups who had not previously taken it”.
Richard, 28, who has smoked crack for four years, traces his addiction back to being 11 years old, when he smoked cannabis in school for the first time.
He progressed to taking cocaine recreationally while chasing “a better high” before moving onto crack, which he admits has ruined his life.
“It’s a thin line, to be honest,” Richard says. “I was looking for a better high than the cocaine was giving me, you’re always chasing that first high, but you’re never going to get it again.”
Initially he could still function while using drugs, but it took over his life and led to him rarely seeing his nine-year-old daughter.
Richard said: “For the first maybe two years, I turned up to work every day. I had a girlfriend at the time, we used to go out and do things, things that normal people do.
“I’ve worked for a number of years and smoked crack. I’ve been a landscaper for gardens, a factory operator, I’ve been a bus driver. I smoked it at work, yeah.
You’ll sell the shoes off your own feet to get crack
Richard
“You can function for only a certain amount of time, but in the end it will show, it will come through.
“Since I’ve done the first one I haven’t stopped since, and it’s four years later. I think that speaks enough for itself. You can't get away from it.
“When it’s in your head, you’re literally willing to do anything to get it. I believe the rest of my life is going to be controlled by drugs."
Richard – who enrolled in a 16-week rehabilitation programme while the documentary was being filmed – noted crack had become easier to buy in rural spots in South Wales.
“A few years ago you’d have to go to Cardiff to get it, but now the dealers are creeping up into the Valleys, you’re never far away from somebody who sells crack,” he says.
“You’ll sell the shoes off your own feet to get crack.
"Society doesn’t understand addiction. It’s just a stigma that’s given to it [but] it’s an illness.”
Paranoia hell
In a moment that revealed the withdrawal symptoms addicts face, 26-year-old Danny starts to freak out as he frantically races around his flat struggling to find his crack pipe.
The former labourer yells “f***” non-stop as he pulls out drawers and tears rooms apart before finding it on a kitchen worktop.
After taking a hit of the highly lethal drug, which shortens life expectancy and can cause both heart and organ failure, he says: “It feels like God touching your brain."
Dismissing the drug's dangerous effects, he said: “It’s like f*****g the equivalent to having a f*****g w***, you know like, it’s just a two-minute buzz.”
People start kicking your door in, wanting to come in and rob you or hurt your missus…. It happens everywhere
Paul, addict of 20 years
Despite downplaying his addiction, which started six years earlier, Danny explains that he can no longer work while using the drug and admits it has deeply affected his mental health.
“I used to really enjoy smoking crack and I don’t enjoy it anymore,” he says.
“I enjoy it for a second or two, and then I get really paranoid. But I think that’s just my mental health getting worse as I get older.”
He says his addiction stems from wanting to escape from reality because we “live in a cold world that is s***”.
“My life has been a cycle of just running away, finding a way to escape. I used to enjoy life, I just don’t enjoy it anymore,” Danny adds.
Vicious attacks
The need to get the next fix leads many addicts to criminality and violence.
Paul, who's been hooked on crack for more than 20 years, keeps a machete to scare away any addicts who try to break in.
“Twenty people start coming through your door and it happens regularly,” he says.
“People start kicking your door in, wanting to come in and rob you or hurt your missus…. It happens everywhere [but] they’re not coming through my door or my mate’s door.”
He understands why addicts turn to crime to fund their addiction all too well, having stolen to get his fix in the past.
“I’ve done 25 years of grafting for all this stuff, I’ve burgled houses for crack, everything for drugs,” Paul says.
“It’s a trap; it’s a soul catcher, and it’s only when you realise that you’re not in control of the drug and the drug is in control of you, that’s the only time you’ll ever stop, or it’s too late.”
Relapse fears
In a bid to quit crack cocaine for good, Richard travelled 150 miles from the Valleys to Leicestershire to go to rehab.
After six weeks on the programme, he said: “It feels like the best I’ve ever felt. I feel free of addiction, I feel like a changed man.
“I’m definitely proud of myself for how far I’ve come at the moment… but I’m not naive enough to think the journey is over.
They call (Wales) God’s land... I think recently it’s more like crack land
Recovered addict Cullen
“It’s my new identity. I’m not Richard the crack smoker, I’m Richard the Christian and the loving father, not the crackhead.”
He plans to stay for a full year at the rehabilitation centre, which is permitted if he works as a volunteer, because he fears there would be “a higher percentage” for him to return to using drugs if he left sooner.
The final episode of Drugs Map Of Britain airs at 10.15pm tonight on BBC Three. All four episodes of the series are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
