Meet the former drug user who teaches police officers how to help vulnerable addicts

A ‘traumatic childhood’ led George Charlton, 47, down the path of drug use from an early age.

Aged 14 the South Tyneside native started smoking cigarettes and joints before moving on to MDMA, amphetamines and Class A drugs in an effort to escape his reality.

"My drug of choice was everything – I just didn’t want to be inside my own head,” George said.

After his parents discovered he had tried to take his own life, George underwent a 12-month rehabilitation programme.

It was there that he found his passion for education and his true vocation after completing two counselling courses.

“Before rehab I had no direction, I was broken and I wanted to die,” George said.

"I couldn’t see a way out and I felt I had nothing – the community didn’t want me, my friends didn’t want me, I only had my parents left and I knew my choices were making them ill – in fact I was killing them.

“When my parents found me after my suicide attempt I was detained under the Mental Health Act and went to rehab shortly after. I was terrified at first, but it was a real opportunity.”

George had only been out of rehab six months when, aged 28, he started delivering training and sharing some of his own deeply personal lived experience of substance abuse.

“As a society we’ve been told we should demonise the most vulnerable people in our communities and I knew changing this perception was going to be my vocation,” he said.

A chance meeting with a forward thinking Police Drugs Liaison Officer led him to start working with Northumbria Police.

“When I visited Byker Station to talk about how we would roll-out this new training I realised it was the first time I’d been in a station without handcuffs,” he said.

“I definitely held my own biases against officers and was weary of them because of my past.”

Nineteen years on, George is still delivering training to police forces across the county and has multiple degrees and an MA under his belt.

“I’m a passionate advocate for the underdog,” he said.

"I just want to give people impacted by addictions a voice and want to tell anyone who is struggling – if I can turn my life around and get an MA then others can too, if I can have a beautiful wife and children, you can too."

“I really have to say ‘thank you’ to Northumbria Police – their foresight and attitude back then shows how committed they are to this area of work.

“They were so ahead of the game.”

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Woods added: “Northumbria Police recognises the need to evolve and develop in the ever-changing fight against organised crime and drug-related offences.

"With George’s help we have invested in educating our drugs experts and those investigating drug-related crimes so that we better understand the impact drugs can have on our communities.

“With that better understanding we are able to support the vulnerable and become increasingly effective in bringing to justice those who prey on the vulnerabilities of others and in some cases have historically been perceived as ‘untouchable’."

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