Some statistics are shocking and disturbing. Briefly today I want to share one stat I found recently. Regular readers will have noticed a series of posts I did on the American Indians and their struggle with life under colonial power and how a disproportionate number of them deal with their pain through drink and drugs. This stat has a similar feel to it.

It comes from a report drawn by the Director of Public Health in north Wales and concerns the number of people who have been hospitalised due to the effects of illegal drugs. The all Wales male rate stands at 171 per 100,000; the north Wales rate is slightly higher at 173. But the startling stat that I want to highlight is the Anglesey rate – which stands at 331 per 100,000. That’s significantly higher than any single county and is double the Wales average.

No explanation is given as to why the figure is so high for the island and as far as I am aware no research has been conducted on the issue. But it is truly a dreadful situation. If, as is generally accepted, drugs are used for self-medication of emotional pain then the level of pain here on Anglesey must be intense. The need for those who will call for mercy, therefore, is as great as ever.