A reformed drug user speaks
By Paul Smith
October 18, 2007 03:00am
I STARTED using ecstasy 15 years ago. It wasn't my primary drug - I also used amphetamines and ice.
I grew up in Newcastle NSW and was involved in the hospitality industry, so the night life was part and parcel of not just my work but my leisure as well.
I used ecstasy after work but it was also part of the social activity, so I used it when I went out to dance parties and that sort of thing - on average, I used it maybe twice a week.
I'd use speed early in the evening and then take ecstasy later, for the rush of euphoria. Back then I loved the effects of ecstasy and Icouldn't get enough of it.
Today's ecstasy isn't the same as what is was - in the beginning it was all imported and the effects were different to what you get when you buy it on the streets now.
It has changed a lot - these days it's all homemade stuff that's made in dodgy garages and backyards so you never know what's in it.
When I was using it, I'd go out clubbing with a group of older friends and it was the normal thing for drugs to get passed around.
It wasn't until later, when I got into a bit of trouble with the law with amphetamines, that I came to a crossroads in my life.
I spent five months in jail and I realised that drugs were something I had to stop using, no matter what happened.
It was suggested that I come to William Booth House, which is run by the Salvation Army, to change my attitudes, my beliefs and ideas about drugs and I did that.
I've been clean now for 16 months but I have issues with short-term memory loss and my serotonin levels, or levels of enjoyment have flattened out because of that high euphoric feeling you get from long-term abuse of drugs.
When I was using drugs, my family knew that something was going on but it was my life and I was living it.
Back when I was addicted, I would have agreed wholeheartedly with descriptions of them as "recreational" or "party drugs".
They're certainly not the sort of things you take when you're going to work or sitting around by yourself - they're very much a social or interactive thing.
These days, a drug is a drug to me. Whatever one you have, it's going to alter your normal state of mind so I don't condone any drug use.
That said, I don't think kids need to be warned off them - I think they should be educated on them. Kids want to try things because they have that sense of rebellious curiosity about them.
Arresting people for drug possession isn't going to help them in the long term. If we throw them in jail, we're just putting them in amelting pot with other criminals that will endanger them in every aspect.
For young offenders who haven't truly realised what it is to do something really serious, they're only going to be taught to be abetter, more efficient criminal, rather than having their issues addressed in a rehabilitative way.
At the moment I'm volunteering for the William Booth House program and I'm seriously thinking of becoming a drug and alcohol counsellor to give something back.
If I can help others who are going through what I've been through, that's all the more reason to do it.
Even if it's just one person who I can get through to, my experiences will have been more than worth it.
Paul Smith is a reformed drug user.
... didnt express wot i was trying 2 say but i hope u got the point lol