Can I Say "Arse-lickers"?

Daily Dose have done me the great honour of posting my YouTube and MySpace links up today.

Welcome any DD readers- please say hello and tell us where you are dropping in from?

As with all blog's this is my own- rather idiosyncratic- take on LIFE: with a strong emphasis on addiction and media issues (write what you know, as they say).

Although I am an "expert commentator" for Frank- what you read here is all my own thoughts and opinions and may (or may not) concur with UK drugs policies.

And please be warned, I do mouth off a bit at times.

I'm an Aries!

My heart is in the right place though.

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It's been a slightly weird day.

I've been juggling resting and relaxing- to continue my recuperation from glandular fever (had a lovely reiki and reflexology session at lunchtime)- with dealing with some interesting media enquiries.

The Guardian interviewed me for a piece they are doing on Tough Love- Amy Winehouse's parents and in-laws being the "hook".

It's quite difficult dealing with something like this- from an ethical point of view.

I'm not her therapist and- like everyone else- my knowledge is based on what's in the public domain: the grim pictures and what the parents are saying.

And Amy has given quite a lot to work with in her lyrics.

In these cases- mass media- I try to give quotes that will further the understanding of how addiction works but without being specific to a particular individual.

Because of how the media works- in soundbites- this is quite a tricky path to tread.

I do choose to go on-the-record and write about celebrity addicition issues because their lives are written about so much; and a great deal of what is written about the illness has very little understanding or knowledge contained in it.

Quite often the way that celebrity drug stories get written is actually quite damaging to our clients- in the "real world", because rather than increase empathy and understanding of the illness, famous addicts are seen as spoilt brats who need to pull themselves together...I'm thinking about what Simon Cowell wrote about Britney and Robbie.

There are so many missed opportunities- acres of print- which rarely get used to educate the public and even give out any useful contacts and information.

I've made it a bit of a mission to try and raise the level of the debate in the UK.

My friends at Frank have given me a lot of help and support to do this.

As a TV director- throughout my using- I stayed resolutely behind the camera: partly through low self-worth and thinking I looked terrible on-camera. Yes, self-obsession and ego!

Even after media training I was still very reluctant to do live TV. Until one day I was stitched up and I turned up at Sky for a "pre-record" that was actually a live-link to Ipswich; to talk about the working girls who were risking their lives for a fix.

Even with all my media experience in radio and TV- some of the things I do now- for Frank- still freak me out.

Nothing can prepare you for the abject terror of sitting alone in a totally black studio- waiting to talk live to a reporter you can't see or hear very well- with no clue what questions they are going to ask you.

Or being in a frantic Radio 1 studio after a taxi ride from hell- putting on your head-phones knowing that the youth of the nation are listening- again live. With no prep time to field up-coming calls from desperate people; and trying to give half-decent answers, within very limited time-frames.

It's strange but I do love it.

This merging of my old world with my new.

I am so grateful to be able to do this stuff today.

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Patrick Barkham, The Guardian journalist just emailed me the quotes he wants to use tomorrow- to check for factual sense- I'm happy with them, although they do include me using the word "arselickers"..Wonder if that will make it past the sub-editor?

You'll have to buy the paper tomorrow to find out!!