Like most Australians, George* has spent the better part of the past two months trying to stay at home. He watches Netflix, tries to cook new things, and takes his dog Baz for walks to the park near his home in Coburg, north of Melbourne.
But life in a pandemic has its own particular challenges for George.
The 38-year-old is a recovering drug addict. A poly-drug user who “specialised” in heroin and cannabis, his methadone treatment meant that during the peak of the virus he gambled with infection each day by catching the train to a clinic a few suburbs away. Sober for the past seven months, he’s one of thousands of recovering addicts grappling with treatment in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In some ways it’s actually good because, all those places you try to avoid, like the places that reminded you of using, you can’t go there anyway,” he tells the Guardian.
“But trying to use the internet for meetings, and then having to travel for [treatment] when the government is saying you should be staying home, it’s not ideal. Plus, I suppose just like everyone it’s lonely. I’m probably a bit of a recluse, I don’t see heaps of people anyway, but I haven’t gone to see my mum for over a month, which is a bit rough when she’s sort of been the one who’s always supported me.”
