“I started smoking dope at about 14" says Neil, now 30. "Long hair and dope was part of the music culture that I was into.

"At 16, I could get my hands on dope more. It seemed a lot cooler than getting drunk; people on marijuana seemed more switched on than beer-heads. I got more and more into it and was kicked out of college for being stoned in lessons.

"So I moved away and hooked up with dope dealers who seemed to be really switched on. I smoked a lot, every day.

"Sometimes I feared being addicted - I would try to go a day without dope, but usually I would end up smoking. Either I'd find some money or dope, or if I had neither, suppliers would turn up at my door.

"I'd often think 'Wow! I've done a day without smoking' - then I'd realise: 'No I haven't, here I am stoned'. I worried about addiction and felt paranoid about whether the people I was with had some kind of hold on me through it.

"I thought, 'If there was something else that could give me the same buzz or the same spiritual feelings as dope, I'd do it' - but I didn't know of any such thing.

"Once, I had had some marijuana and a nasty experience followed with hallucinations that were incredibly real to me. Something spiritual happened and it shook me up.

"When I met the Jesus Army at Glastonbury in 1993, I shared my feelings with people who understood like no one else had.

I started finding a way out. I was baptised as a Christian and, when I came up from the water, the power of the Holy Spirit hit me full on. It was awesome.

Marijuana didn't have a touch on Jesus - not at all. I realised this was what I had been looking for. It wasn't just meaningless: it made sense.

"I was warned not to smoke again; but the next day I slipped up, before I caught myself and knew I had to not let go of the opportunity I had been given. The power of the drugs was broken- not just physically, but habitually, in a lifestyle sense. I had been set free.

"So I stopped smoking there and then and put it behind me: I've not touched dope for 12 years."

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