Ex-user wants to swap poppies for pomegranates (From Swindon Advertiser)

Ex-user wants to swap poppies for pomegranates

11:00am Thursday 7th August 2008

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A FORMER drug user has turned his life around to help rid the world’s streets of heroin.

James Brett, who was born and raised in Wroughton, got mixed up in drugs and crime after leaving Ridgeway School, but it wasn’t until two friends died of heroin overdoses that he realised he needed to take a different path.

It was at this point he flew off on his world travels visiting some 50 countries including Pakistan, where he was able to taste ‘an oddly delicious’ pomegranate juice.

Soon after James says he realised that the fruit could solve the world’s heroin problems.

Now he is putting his plan into action by creating and running a charity called Pom354, which is convincing more and more Afghani farmers to replace their heroin-producing poppy fields with pomegranates.

After having his plan accepted by a grand assembly of elders in the Afghan province of Nangarhar – he has put his plan into action and hopes to have 10,000 families switch over to pomegranates by 2009.

The 38-year-old said: “Experiences in our lives make us who we are and sometimes personal experiences can affect us so much that we are happy to cross a line.

“Going into the poppy fields in Afghanistan that day meant that I could cross that line.

“As a result of that I am able to help people, and if this results in getting heroin off the streets than I will do that.

“Swindon, like any other Western European town, is seeing a similar amount of heroin on the streets and as a result thousands are affected every day by this drug.

“Through my own experiences with having a drug addiction problem for 20 years I have seen the damage and effects of drugs in society.”

According to the United Nations, Afghanistan cultivated approximately 193,000 hectares of poppy seed, which is in turn responsible for 93 per cent of the world’s heroin.

Since making his impassioned speech to the elders, James has attracted the attention of Babrak Shinwari, a presidential hopeful, who is keen to rid his country from the scourge of heroin.

Mr Shinwari is now in England to help deliver on James’s plan to spread pomegranates throughout Afghanistan.

He believes four more provinces could be interested depending on the success of Nangahar – one of the country’s safest and most stable provinces.

James is also the founder of a pomegranate juice company called Pomegreat, which is currently helping to attract more money for Afghani pomegranate farmers.

If you are interested in helping, visit www.pom354.com.

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