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19th Jun 2019

WATCH: Christy Moore reveals how his cocaine use caused a heart attack

Rory Cashin

christy moore

The 74-year-old discussed the topic as part of a new drugs possession decriminalisation campaign.

As part of a new awareness campaign, Christy Moore has opened up about his own battles with drug use.

The singer admitted that even when his drug use threatened to end his life, he couldn’t stop using:

“I certainly encountered cocaine for a period of my life and there was a period of my life where I would have been very familiar with it.

“I had a heart attack. I said ‘Well, that’s it now, that’s me sorted, I’m going to give up’ but within a very short period of getting out of hospital, I was back on that road again.

“And that’s when I knew I was beaten. If a heart attack is not going to stop me, I need help, I’m in trouble. I was blessed in that it was a brother of mine who showed me the way.”

The #SaferFromHarm campaign is a civil society campaign to decriminalise people who use drugs, with the organisers stating that they “would like to see the adoption of a health-based approach to the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use, a trend we are seeing internationally”.

Moore supports the idea of decriminalising, or minimising the criminal aspect, of those who possess of small amounts of drugs for their own personal use.

“We need to try and take more care, to try and embrace those who seem to be just falling through the cracks of our society,” he said.

“Not to be always turning the other way, to try and offer a little bit of compassion at every level, from government right down to us walking down the street.”

Moore, who joins a list of Irish personalities who support the #SaferFromHarm campaign, can be seen discussing the topic at length here:

Clip via Safer From Harm