Anonymous –

Jan. 20, 2020 –

When did you first engage with drug treatment?

I knew in 1998 that my relationship with drugs wasn’t right, and the doctors sent me to a drugs service on Pentonville Road. I was in and out of drugs services from then, with an active drugs worker and using therapeutic services, but it wasn’t until 2007 that I got clean.

Was there a rock bottom moment?

It was a drip-drip effect. The consequences became worse – losing jobs, homes, relationships, friendships. I had somebody die of an overdose on my lounge floor, which definitely wasn’t in the script when I was 12 or 13, reading Led Zeppelin autobiographies and dreaming of working in the music business. It was also going to NA and meeting other drug addicts that were in the same position. Ultimately, I was just sick and tired of feeling like shit from the moment I woke up – of not being to manage my emotions.

When did you start the Secret Drug Addict account?

Two years ago, but I’ve only been seriously doing it for 15 months. Initially it was just me talking about drugs, then people started inboxing me and I started doing takeovers with Neville [Southall]. We’d talked a bit on Twitter, then he had this idea that drug or mental health services predominantly worked during the day, so asked if I would be around at night – it was 9PM to 2AM – to be available to chat to people and post stuff on his account.

@Vice