Andy's story
“I used to spend a lot of my life looking out of windows, paranoid as hell. The only thing I lived for was the next £20 to get my next hit of crack. Giving it up was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life but the most worth it.”
At the age of 12, Andy would drink and smoke cannabis with his mates in Wisbech on weekends, thinking little of it. Two years later, he started “dabbling” with crack. But it wasn’t until the age of 18 that he realised he had a problem.
“My life was a mess. I’d lost family because I was stealing from them and burgling houses. I’d steal whatever I could get my hands on. All I could think of was getting my next stone of crack. I had a chaotic life.”
He recalls spending much of his youth locked inside his home, so paranoid he’d nail down his doors and windows.
“I didn’t sleep too much, I didn’t eat. I didn’t do a lot apart from sitting in a house staring out of windows or ringing my dealer. If I got a craving for crack, I’d force myself to get out of the house and do something idiotic.”
Before he knew it, Andy was in and out of prison for burglary offences. Within minutes of being released, he’d be seeking out his dealer.
“I’d come out and be back on the crack as soon as I could score.”
At the age of 20, Andy spent eight weeks in a psychiatric ward after suffering a mental breakdown. But the minute he was back in Wisbech, he went back to using crack.
Things got worse when at the age of 22, he began using heroin. The next few years passed by in a haze.
Andy’s life took an unexpected turn for the better at the age of 25, when he was remanded in custody on burglary charges.
“In court I said, ‘The only thing I want is rehab’.”
Given a final chance, Andy did an 18-month-stint at an Oxford drugs rehabilitation clinic.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my life but the most worth it.”
Now 28, Andy’s been clean for over three years – a fact he largely puts down to the dedicated and consistent support he’s had from outreach worker Sammy McKenna, whom he met while living in a homeless shelter. Sammy now works for Addaction, which since April this year holds the new contract for adult treatment services in Cambridgeshire.
“Sammy’s brilliant, she’s so easy-going. I can just go and have a chat.”
He says drugs are prevalent in society but he now has the willpower and support to resist them.
Andy’s currently taking a ‘Roots to Learning’ course at college and has applied to work as an outreach volunteer with Addaction. He’s also starting a Wisbech-based service users' group, together with Addaction.
Andy says the support he's had from Addaction's Sammy McKenna has helped him kick the habit for good.