Eastenders is right to show Phil's drug addiction

I hear some people have been complaining about Eastenders and the fact that they're portraying Phil Mitchell as he descends into crack cocaine addiction BEFORE 9PM! Others say it's wrong because it's all about the ratings. Personally I don't CARE why they're doing it, I'm just glad they ARE.

And as for showing it after 9pm, why would that be? So that kids can't see it? Well it's kids who SHOULD be seeing it. We should MAKE them watch it. And anyone who thinks differently has absolutely no idea how vulnerable our children are to drugs, how easily they can be tempted to just try it one time and how damn quickly they can become addicted, particularly with crack cocaine.

A relative of mine became a crack cocaine addict, he said the first time he took it. He described the terror he felt at how quickly and how dramatically it took over his life and how he could think of nothing else, how he simply could not function without it. His addiction killed him in the end and his life was wasted just like the 545 addicts who died in Scotland in 2009-2010. All those broken families, all those wasted lives, all that potential gone for nothing.

So I don't really care if we frighten children by showing them just how horrific and completely unglamorous drug addiction really is. Better they are frightened than tempted to venture down a path that ends in their destruction.