Last week I visited Bosence Farm, Cornwall’s only dedicated residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.

We have seen over recent years a significant increase in drug and alcohol dependency and the anti-social behaviours that often come with it. Many addicts end up in a cycle of chaotic lives, drug or alcohol dependency and then prison. Bosence has a remarkable track record of helping people to break free from this vicious cycle.

Their aim is to see a society where every person suffering from substance misuse can receive high quality treatment and support to meet their needs, and help them become fulfilled and productive members of their community.

By providing detoxification, stabilisation and rehabilitation in safe and peaceful surroundings means that patients are able to find the space in their lives to address the highly complex range of issues that led to their addictions. These may include physical, mental or sexual abuse, amongst other things.

Addiction is a disease which causes changes in the brain and it can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. It affects those from all walks of life. In those struggling with an addiction, dopamine receptors activate and tell the brain that the substance being used is a reward.

Over time, the brain changes and adapts as it becomes increasingly dependent on the substance being used, whether it be drugs, alcohol or both. Due to such significant alterations in the brain, addiction is considered a disease.

As the addiction develops, it can become so powerful that it is extremely difficult for the individual effected to control their use, even when there are detrimental physical, emotional and financial consequences associated with it.

Whilst treatments and support such as those offered at Bosence are not cheap, they represent a fraction of the cost of ignoring the issues that society faces.

So we can either ignore the problems and hope they’ll go away, damning the suffer to that viscous cycle, as well as all the associated antisocial behaviour, or we can commit to supporting sufferers to turn away from this chaos.

Organisations such as Bosence should be considered important investments into community cohesion, rehabilitation and renewal.

The key to the success of Bosence is that the suffer must admit themselves – they must want to change their lives. Such a decision can be incredibly scary as an essential part of the process is that once the suffer has been through detox, they are required to face the demons in the past that led them to a life of drug or alcohol dependency.

It is so important that once they come through the process and go back into the community that they are supported and nurtured. So I was incredibly impressed during my visit that many of the counsellors at Bosence were former patients themselves, using their own personal experience to help others out of their own personal despair.

It’s a truly remarkable place and an organisation at the sharp-end of life – an organisation of which I think we should all be proud.

Perran Moon, Labour MP for Camborne and Redruth