Rachael's Heroin Hell

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The pictures of her rotting arms made international headlines after she first appeared on Sky News.

Now the story of the reformed Dublin heroin addict Rachael Keogh is being raised in the Irish Parliament.

Labour Leader Pat Rabbitte will ask the Irish Minister for Health, Mary Harney, why she never responded to Rachael Keogh's letter asking for help.

Ms Keogh claims she wrote to the minister asking for a meeting but never got an acknowledgement.

"There's no question we sent those letters," she says. "I was desperate for help last year, I had gone as far as I could go with the drugs and I wasn't strong enough to help myself anymore.

"We hoped the minister would have been able to help us, but the department has claimed there is no record of our letters."

Noel Ahern, minister of state with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, has welcomed a further substantial increase in funding of drugs initiatives.

The Government says the new money will double the amount available for regional drugs task forces, implement nearly 70 drugs projects and help local initiatives.

The Sky News documentary, My Heroin Hell: Rachael's Story, tells how Rachael turned her life around after 14 years of heroin abuse. A year ago, she was critically ill and faced the prospect of having her arms amputated.

She's gone through painful months of rehab and detox, and is about to appear in a photo-shoot in Cosmopolitan magazine. She intends to write a book, and go to university.

For links to a Sky News Documentary on Rachael see the following post:

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29251