Family of Dumbarton man who died after 40-year drugs battle make plea for change
dailyrecord.co.ukDesperate to recover from his 40-year drug addiction and start a new life, Tony Devine applied for a passport in a bid to fulfil his dream of visiting family overseas.The much-loved uncle had just been discharged from Gartnavel Royal and was determined to turn his life around once and for all.But the battle was too much and, on June 23 last year, the 63-year-old was found dead in his Castlehill home following an accidental overdose.He had taken a lethal cocktail of drugs, with ‘street valium’, painkillers, cannabis and cocaine found in his system.Tony is one of 28 people who died from substance misuse in West Dunbartonshire in 2021, with a total of 1330 lives being lost across Scotland last year alone – a tiny fall of one percent annually and the second highest total of all time.
His sister Liz Daly has opened up to the Lennox Herald on the family’s devastating loss as the latest drug deaths statistics were released.
She is demanding urgent action to tackle the crisis.Liz, 66, said: “The numbers are released every year and you think ‘that’s awful’ but you don’t always realise there is a life behind each number and these are people who meant something to somebody else.“This year, one of those numbers is my brother.“Tony was 63 when he died.
You don’t think men in that age group will die due to drugs but he had been addicted to drugs from his early 20s. He didn’t choose that life.“He wasn’t a recreational drug user.
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