Monday 11 May 2009

Cassidy Letter to the North Belfast News


Following a series of malicious incidents against myself and my family, I feel I have to respond to the North Belfast public.The first incident occurred two years ago whilst I was away getting married when my name appeared on walls throughout the area stating that I was a drug dealer. I and my family ignored this and put it down to sheer jealousy.


Shortly afterwards my wife’s car was destroyed with acid, again we chose to ignore it.In January 2008 my home was targeted by drunken gunmen using automatic weapons. This was a step too far. I confronted the people I knew to be guilty of this cowardly act.


Admissions were given to me by the people involved, they also informed me that they were persuaded to kill me by the same people who are continuing this vendetta against me.


Following that incident there were leaflets distributed around mine and my mother’s neighbours. I responded to this deed by doing a leaflet drop of my own, only this leaflet contained the absolute truth. My wife at that stage was six months pregnant, expecting our first son. Tragically our son was stillborn.


One week later as we stood at our son’s graveside trying to come to terms with our loss, I received a phone call from people claiming to be from an anti-drugs group demanding £40,000. In return for this money, they could guarantee that this campaign against me would stop. I did not have £40,000 to give them and informed them so.


On at least a dozen occasions I have spoken to members of CFAD, continually guaranteeing that my involvement with drugs had ceased long before this self appointed group came into existence.I would also like to take this opportunity to guarantee your readers that I am not a drug dealer nor am I laundering drug money, as was stated in their last piece of literature about me.


Before Christmas the PSNI informed me that I was under threat and my life could be in danger. This reinforced my desire to met with CFAD and put the record straightOnce and for all, and as Father Gary Donegan will confirm, there was a meeting arranged for two o’clock on a December afternoon in the monastry. Ten minutes prior to the meeting taking place Fr Gary phoned me and told me that CFAD had cancelled the meeting. This left me without the chance to challenge their allegations.


Also there was a pipe-bomb left outside my home in my work van. My street had to be evacuated, elderly and young included.Then on Saturday past, a number of men went to a car wash that I previously owned, distributing leaflets again accusing me of being a drug baron and laundering money through this car wash. However to their disappointment and my amusement a member of staff informed these people that the car wash was closed due to the fact that the rent could not be afforded by the previous owner.


These men then knee jerked and had an ad hoc protest outside our family owned shop. My family confronted the people involved in this protest yet again, all to no avail.I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my past, which is no worse than a lot of young people who grew up in socially disadvantaged areas such as Ardoyne.But it is just that, THE PAST.However given this ongoing campaign of deceit, lies and torture against me and my family, I have come to the decision to leave my family home as my wife is expecting another child and as is at the same stage of pregnancy now as she was when we lost our child last year. I am not leaving through fear of these people or their lies, I just cannot place my family in such a dangerous environment.


Finally I would like to add that no one more than myself knows the dangers pain and loss that comes with hard drugs as I was addicted to cocaine myself for several years.


Sean Cassidy, Ardoyne

2 comments:

  1. Id like to comment on the fact that there is no comments cuz this topic has been laughed at 1000s of times and laughed at by some people who bought the drugs from Sean as well. Dyas all remember? "Keep it shy" an all that lark.

    Ok Sean did what he did, but he was only feeding the habits of many an ardoyne mOnce he stopped the next man stepped in and hes doing fairly well with the Coke for some reason???

    Sean Cassidy who has since "Fled For His Life" apparently from CFAD is an example of how guilt can make ya so paranoid and deluded.
    Especially coupled with a few lines of the white stuff ay lads?

    Id admit that I paid and used this said persons drugs at one time. But, FFS Cash wake up and own up while ya can fella. Oh right, I get it nigh. No claim no blame Cash?
    An EX Drug Buddy(Not Friend)..........GWO 4ever!

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  2. Moral panics are not a new phenomenon and the actions of certain segments of society, most notably youths, have often been seen as immoral and threatening to the accepted norms and patterns found within our culture. During the 1950s and 1960's there was widespread concern over the influence of rock 'n' roll music with fears that it led to promiscuity and anti-social behaviour. The 'drug culture' of the 1960s led to far-reaching anxiety, and it was widely believed that an entire generation would become 'crazed' addicts. The issue of drugs and music in the 1960s led to the persecution of many pop stars who were perceived as having a highly corrupting influence upon the youth of the day, this aspect of moral panics can be related to the present day issue of the use of 'ecstasy'. In the 1970s the image of the black mugger became a target of those wishing to instil concern in the minds of the public, a panic which was to lead to a great deal of prejudice and racism at every level of society and a fear which, to a large extent, remains today

    An adviser to the government has resigned in protest at the home secretary's sacking of his chief drugs adviser, Prof David Nutt.

    Dr Les King quit the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), saying Home Secretary Alan Johnson had denied Prof Nutt's "freedom of expression".

    Prof Nutt was sacked after saying cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or nicotine.

    He said the drug had been upgraded to Class B against scientific evidence.

    The reclassification had been for political reasons and "on the whim of the prime minister", Prof Nutt claimed

    New "landmark" research finds that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than some illegal drugs like marijuana or Ecstasy and should be classified as such in legal systems, according to a new British study. In research published Friday in The Lancet magazine, Professor David Nutt of Britain's Bristol University and colleagues proposed a new framework for the classification of harmful substances, based on the actual risks posed to society. Their ranking listed alcohol and tobacco among the top 10 most dangerous substances.
    Nutt and colleagues used three factors to determine the harm associated with any drug: the physical harm to the user, the drug's potential for addiction, and the impact on society of drug use. The researchers asked two groups of experts - psychiatrists specializing in addiction and legal or police officials with scientific or medical expertise - to assign scores to 20 different drugs, including heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamines, and LSD.

    Nutt and his colleagues then calculated the drugs' overall rankings. In the end, the experts agreed with each other - but not with the existing British classification of dangerous substances.

    Heroin and cocaine were ranked most dangerous, followed by barbiturates and street methadone. Alcohol was the fifth-most harmful drug and tobacco the ninth most harmful. Cannabis came in 11th, and near the bottom of the list was Ecstasy.

    According to existing British and U.S. drug policy, alcohol and tobacco are legal, while cannabis and Ecstasy are both illegal. Previous reports, including a study from a parliamentary committee last year, have questioned the scientific rationale for Britain's drug classification system.
    With cannabis being less harmful than alcohol or nicotine, who can we depend on to confront the alcohol or nicotine barrons !

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