A POEM written by a Brierfield heroin addict who died from an overdose could be used to educate children about the dangers of drugs.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice will show the poem, written by 32-year-old Jason Smitheran, to Home Secretary David Blunkett and Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

Jason's parents Kathleen and Kenneth Smitheran, of Chatburn Park Drive, said the poem showed how heroin had given their son a 'Jekyll and Hyde' personality.

At an inquest yesterday Deputy East Lancashire Coroner Mark Williams returned a verdict of accidental death after hearing about Jason's 12 year battle with drugs including cannabis and heroin.

He heard that in the months before he died Jason had been living in Blackpool and had appeared to be drug free when he returned home for Mother's Day.

But on the night of his death he was unable to resist temptation and left a family barbecue to share two bags of the drug with friends in Sackville Street.

His friends Jason Elliot and Paul Murgatroyd told the inquest, at Burnley Magistrates' court, that he had arrived at a house they were staying at in Sackville Street with a bag of heroin which they had shared.

He had left to go home but returned an hour later with more heroin, saying he had argued with his family.

After injecting more of the drug he fell asleep and then stopped breathing.

Kathleen, 52, and Kenneth, 53, visited Mr Prentice shortly after Jason's death and gave him the poem which he had written during a drug-free period, describing the effect heroin had on his mind.

Speaking after the inquest, Kathleen, a sewing machinist, said: "We went to see Gordon Prentice because people need to see the effect that drugs can have. They destroy lives and they destroy families.

"The poem really shows that there were two Jasons. There was the son I gave birth to and but he became a different person when he had taken heroin.

"I want some good to come out of what happened to Jason and I hope his story can make a difference for other people."

Gordon Prentice said: "Jason's poem was very moving.

"I have asked Home Secretary David Blunkett and Education Secretary Charles Clarke to see if it can be used to try and help warn young people of the dangers of hard drugs like heroin.

"Kathleen and Kenneth are very keen to do what they can to ensure their son's life was not in vain.

"I will do all I can to support them in getting the message across in schools and elsewhere that drugs wreck lives, cause crime and ruin families."