Tragic dad in plea to drug users

Jan 13 2009 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A GRIEF-STRICKEN dad whose teenage son died over the festive season after dabbling with heroin just twice wants his child’s death to serve as a stark warning to others about the dangers of drugs.

The funeral takes place today of Alec Harvey’s 18-year-old son Aaron, discovered dead in a Perth flat on Hogmanay. The teenager from Ballinluig died of a suspected drugs overdose after a night taking heroin and Valium for just the second time.

“My world has just fallen away,” revealed Aaron’s dad.

“I never thought I would be burying my boy,” he said yesterday ahead of the funeral.

“I have suffered some amount of turmoil in my life, but nothing like this. I am in a dark hole now that I can’t see a way of digging myself out of,” Alec admitted.

Describing the chain of events which led to the loss of his son, the Highland Perthshire father explained: “Aaron took a cocktail of drugs he wasn’t used to and at a level he had not tolerance for which resulted in his death.

“I just can’t believe it.

“He was such a well-natured laddie, always had a smile for everybody. But he was young, naive and too trusting.

“He fell in with some seriously wrong company and now he’s dead,” the mourning dad sombrely added.

Alec bravely continued: “This has to be a warning to kids and their parents to try and prevent another tragedy.

“There is an epidemic of drugs in Perth. Kids are taking whatever they can get their hands on: ecstasy, heroin, cocaine.

“They are mixing drugs without thinking of the dangers.

“There will be more deaths,” he warned.

And the grieving father appealed to other parents to learn from his loss: “Try and keep a close eye on your kids and who they are meeting.”

Young Aaron was a recreational drug user, occasionally smoking cannabis and taking ecstasy on nights out.

But according to his dad, he learned Aaron’s drug use took a sinister turn in early December when on a night out drinking he couldn’t find anyone with ecstasy.

As an alternative, a long-term drug user introduced him to taking Valium alongside smoking heroin.

“He was told it would have the same effect as ecstasy but it made him incredibly ill,” recalled his dad.

“He had to go to the doctor, it had burned away his stomach lining.

“He had just healed and was back out for a night in Perth on the 30th when he met the same person and fell into the same trap.”

The level and combination of drugs provided for a hardened user is believed to have proved fatal for Aaron. He was discovered dead in a flat in Perth on December 31.

Friends stunned by his death have set up a memorial website and recalled 18-year-old Aaron as a lad full of high-jinks who made others laugh.

Aaron’s funeral takes place in Ballinluig Hall at 11am today (Tuesday) and he will then be laid to rest in Logierait Cemetery.