Gloucester drug addicts on web

A PHOTOGRAPHER who took disturbing images of Gloucester drug addicts and published them on the internet has abandoned the project after coming under fire from community leaders.

Andrew Moxon said he took pictures of heroin and crack addicts in the city to highlight flaws in the welfare and benefit system in the UK.

But his pictures on the website Tales of Gloucester angered community leaders, who said it portrayed a negative view of the city.

The site showed addicts injecting themselves, as well as shocking images of the physical effects of drug addiction.

Brian Jones, who works at Gloucester homeless centre GEAR, said: "I am amazed this site even exists. Speaking as someone who works at GEAR I know some of the people in these pictures and they are very vulnerable indeed.

"I am told some of them were paid £20 for being in the pictures. These are addicts and it's obvious where that money is going to go.

"But I am also very unhappy as a Gloucester resident. This is a website called Tales of Gloucester and it comes up on the front page of a Google search for the city. This isn't an accurate reflection of the city we live in."

Coun Paul James, leader of Gloucester City Council, added: "Drug addiction is a serious issue and should be treated as such. It is a national problem and not unique to Gloucester.

"Drug addicts need support and deserve to be treated like human beings, rather than used as pieces of art.

"Gloucester has its problems, but the description on the website is unhelpful, inaccurate and unfair."

Images on the site included heroin users injecting, wounds left by continued injection and emaciated drug users.

But Andrew Moxon, who lives with his wife and family in Wotton, and whose work has been featured at Gloucester Guildhall as well as at galleries across the UK, argued that the criticisms were unfair.

Speaking from Arles, France, where he is working on a similar project, he said: "Drug use is a very serious problem across the UK and anyone who thinks that doesn't apply to Gloucester is very seriously mistaken indeed.

"These images are not glamorising drug use in any way. They are showing the dangers of drug use and they are an attempt to raise awareness about the way in which our patchwork and slapdash benefits system is failing people across the UK, as well as the way drugs have become a major part of that system.

"It's called Tales of Gloucester because that's where these people are living, but it could be any large town or city in the UK.

"As for the idea that I paid these people and exploited them, I have been working with these people for many years, in some cases, and I know them very well. Most of them volunteered and I only paid people if they specifically asked for payment. I didn't feel I could refuse as these are not people with very much money to call their own.

"I am upset about the allegations made about the documentary. The website is temporary and was installed in order to show the work to potential publications outside the UK the work. I have suspended the site forthwith and all the images have been removed."