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LONDON: Amy Winehouse's father went to parliament on Monday to plead for more state-funded drug rehabilitation centres as his family waits for toxicology test results on the British singer's death.
Mitch Winehouse discussed plans to tackle a gap in treatment services and wider drugs policy with Crime Minister James Brokenshire.
“I want to involve myself in things that would be important to Amy,” the taxi driver said.
“This isn't only important to me, this is important to our whole country.
“There's hundreds of thousands of young people in situations today that could be avoided, and these are our future policemen, doctors and lawyers and solicitors, that we could help.”Winehouse, 27, was found dead at her north London home on July 23. Her death remains unexplained, with toxicology test results due within the next three weeks, although it is not being treated as suspicious.
The soul singer's sultry vocal talents were often overshadowed by her drink and drug addictions, and her best-known single, “Rehab”, detailed her troubles and reluctance to undergo rehabilitation treatment.
“I think there is a new emphasis and thinking within the government to try and get treatment in at the sharp end rather than money being wasted through the criminal justice system,” Mitch Winehouse said.
“There was one rehab centre for juveniles, Middlegate, which has just shut down because of a lack of funding.
“We were in the fortunate position of being able to fund Amy to go into private rehab, but this is about people who can't afford it.”Fans of the soul star sent her back on top of this week's British album chart, which came out Sunday.
Grammy Award-winning album “Back to Black”, which first reached number one in 2007, returned to the summit while Winehouse's debut release, “Frank”, recharted at number five. A box set of the two albums entered the chart at number 10.
The singer also occupied five spots on the singles chart top 40 with the song “Back to Black” reaching number eight.
