A TEENAGE boy has gone from a gang’s street drug dealer to a confident rugby player – and has urged other young people to seek help to get out.

The teenager was left feeling like he had no way out and “just wanted to feel happy again” after a gang enticed him into keeping their cannabis and dealing it on the streets after he lost someone close to him.

Alex, which is not his real name, was first targeted by a gang after someone close to him died and he had begun smoking cannabis. He was offered some drugs for free and was then offered more if he agreed to keep drugs in his home which he shared with his parents.

However, the situation deteriorated when he lost some drugs, and he became a runner for them and felt like they didn’t care about him.

The spiralling decline led to a deterioration of the relationship with his parents.

He said: “I was then in debt to them and eventually did not have a way out. I had to keep things with me and do drop offs.

“I would get phone calls and had to leave my house to give drugs to people waiting for the delivery.

“Sometimes I was asked to go with some of the gang to go after people on a few occasions. I later understood that they didn’t care about me; when someone punched me in the street, they just laughed and didn’t stand up for me.”

Alex added: “The turning point was when I saw my parents crying because they didn’t know what to do. I decided I wanted to get out of this life but didn’t know what to do.

"I just wanted my normal life back and feel happy again.

“I had my social worker and support worker who helped me to make a plan to walk away and focus on my family and sports. I decided I want to start playing rugby and to do that I had to leave that life.”

Although Alex was stopped by police officers, he said he always felt - despite his drugs were seized - that officers were trying to help.

READ MORE: 

CCTV to stop drunken yobs urinating in street and drug dealing near pub

40 students to make a stand in protest against 'sexist' skirt ban at school

He said: “I never felt Essex Police was a threat to me. When I was stopped and searched, they would take my cannabis but would talk to me and give me advice.

“I always felt there was an open door there and that I could talk to them. When Children and Young People Officers interviewed me, I felt they were there to help and not to punish me.”

Alex has heaped praise on Essex Police and the council’s children’s services who rescued him from the world of drug gangs.

He is now a confident rugby player and in employment but most importantly his relationship with his parents has improved.

He added: “The people from Southend Council helped so much. When I was in my worst moments, I always had my social worker and support worker. If I called them on weekends or at night, they always picked my calls - they told me what to do when I didn’t know how to get out.

“[It was] the same with my parents; when they didn’t know what else to do my social worker and support worker were always there for them. I don’t know what I would have done without them.

“I am much happier than before. I am fully into rugby, working, I have left drugs and have new mates.

“My parents are happy, and we feel like a family again. My support worker always told me to never stop wanting more for my life. I am doing that, training harder, working harder, and wanting more for my life and for my family.”

Speaking directly to youngsters affected, he said: “I would tell them if they are inside a gang, and don’t know how to get out, to trust the people from Southend Council’s Adolescent Prevention and Intervention Team because they will help you and tell you what to do.

“Even if they don’t trust the police, they are there to help you not to punish you. If it worked for me, it will work for them too.”