I was aware of their habits from as far back as I can remember. I have vivid memories of them injecting from about six years of age, and I remember my dad convulsing from a bad batch of heroin. In the early days when they used needles they'd send me to another room because they didn't want me to witness that. It would have been quite frightening for a child to see that. Unfortunately due to the effects of the drugs, they'd quite often pass out for what seemed like hours at a time. Being an only child in another room, it was quite boring and I'd wonder where my food was, or when I was allowed to come out of the room and get a drink. I'd go wandering and find them passed out on the floor with needles hanging out of their arms. But they didn't want me to see that so they stopped using needles and went on to smoke heroin from when I was about nine. Things seemed to settle down a little bit with regards to how they performed as parents.