I'm in the Melbourne area.
I'm almost 32. When I was 17, my mom gave me a 1/4 vicodin while i was passing a kidney stone. Not only did the most severe pain i've ever felt (at that time before i experienced withdrawal) go away, but i felt really good. couldn't stop smiling. I remembered that feeling a couple years later when i got a chance to buy lots of vicodin, percocets, and norco for 50 cents a pill. (back in 1999 in california). I took them daily building a tolerance of course...eventually getting up to 3-4 at a time, multiple times a day/night. Then I ran out. I was ok with running out when i saw i was getting low. Didn't know i was addicted. My 1st day without...I'm sick as hell and started withdrawal (a word i never heard of before then). That started a 6 year off and on again relationship with opiates...basically sticking to them not for the love of the drug so much....but because of the withdrawal. That's what i believed, but relapses proved otherwise. In 2006 I moved far away from there and was clean for 5 years. Now I'm in a country where codeine is legal over the counter. :/
I found a number to directline on this forum. I called them and spoke to a woman named Val for about an hour. I've never been so honest about my addiction before. It was awesome and everyone I spoke to...her, the people at Select Medical, SEADS, Turningpoint were so helpful and spoke to me with respect. I was shocked to say the least. I expected to be treated like a drug addict...treated like shit.