I find myself writing to you at the Swindon Advertiser today because of everything that is going on within the community of Swindon at the moment.

My partner and I just want to make the whole of Swindon aware about everything that is going on today within Swindon.

There are a few problems that we wanted to speak up about - the main one is the homeless community within Swindon town centre.

Everyone looks at them as drug users, they judge them and mark them down as criminals and push them to one side and shrug them off, but if people took the time to talk with them and listen, they may be able to understand why they are in the position they are in..

Now I fully understand it is their choice to be doing those drugs but many of them do it to escape something that has happened in their lives previously or has had trauma within their childhood.

We would like to speak up about people that have been in prison and them resettling within the community as a lot of these people do not get any help resettling in the community.

They put drug users that have just came out of jail in places like Sheppard Street where there are people who already use drugs.

They can't expect people to rehabilitate and sort themselves out if they put them in the likes of Sheppard street with other drug users.

These people get no help so they go backwards and they do turn back to drugs and a life of crime because of the influence of other people and where they have been housed by the council.

This goes back to the homeless community of Swindon. The reason there are so many is because they get no help when they leave prison except probation.

We do not believe that is enough.

Both of us have taken the time to speak to the homeless and the problems they face in today's society and one of the main factors is that they have to wait six or more weeks to get a script, which we find ridiculous.

The problem with a lot of crime is down to drug users not being able to have the chance of getting off drugs due to not having a script as it takes so long they carry on using and before you know it, these people are back in jail due to the crimes they have to do just so that they do not feel unwell.

We represent the people as we are genuinely let down by a nation where its easy and we are in all fairness.

Walking around the town centre, I stop and look around at absolutely everyone walking as if it's not their problem.

But as a community, if we all stood together, we wouldn't have a homeless community if they did get the help that they deserve.

There were a few people who genuinely moved us due to their backgrounds and why they are homeless or drug users.

One was because they joined the army at a very early age of there life - I believe it was around 17/18 - and when they came home from fighting for our country, there was no help for this person and they had PTSD.

Now, unfortunately, due to there being no help for them, they turned to drugs to escape and forget.

As time went by, the drug habit got worse until they found themselves in prison for crimes they committed in order to fund their drug habits and food because they had been evicted.

Even when they came out of prison, they unfortunately still did not receive the help that they needed.

As there are drug users who use needles due to there being so many on the streets, wouldn't it be a good idea to give them somewhere safe to dispose of dirty needles?

That way we know that the streets will have more of a chance to be safer and free from needles.

Katrina Thomas, address supplied