National Storytelling Week 2024

The customised inhaler placed to my lips, lighter at the ready, a small white rock sat on fag ash on the opposite end, emptying my lungs with a big blowing out of air. Just like that, one poor decision and one wrong move and Id unknowingly signed up to be at the complete mercy of whitney and it's partner Bobby Brown for the next 15 years. Like everything in life,money is key to survival and it's only when you have none you look for the options available in order to obtain more. Before a habit Most addicts had a qualified trade and likely were in fulltime legal employment with no criminal record and definitely no aspirations to get one I was pregnant at the young age of fifteen a teen mum at sixteen, an addict by eighteen and i embarrassingly admit I've never been employed. i'm still amazed daily by the incredible ability every drug addict possesses to get the money they need in order to self medicate and ultimately function(opiate addiction is a physical dependency)we have great imaginations and can concoct the most believable and elaborate stories on the spot without notice. Drug use stops being a choice long before we realise the enormity of just what we are embroiled in .Prison, a once scary prospect has become merely an occupational hazard,a life of crime and chaos is the new normal.possessions of any value sadly pawned or stolen by fellow addicts.Loved ones avoid us.our life and liberty are no longer a given, one arrest one bad hit is all it takes..prison sentences were the only way to get 3 meals per day a warm bed, safety and much needed medication to aid my diagnosis of bpd,ptsd,anxiety and depression not forgetting a script(prescription)the governments substitute for opiate addiction preventing the awful effects of withdrawal. Unfortunately theirs no alternative or relief from crack detoxing. emotional turmoil best describes crack detoxing for me, the main symptom surprisingly is sleep.The only welcome respite and calm in my storm ...sleep