Latest news with #addiction
BreakingNews.ie
14 hours ago
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
'Taking cocaine is completely normalised now', recovering addict warns
A recovering addict who was once spending up to €500 a night on cocaine has warned that its use is now 'completely normalised." Dylan Curran says he now has peace of mind since seeking help for his addiction over three years ago. Advertisement The young man's drug use spiralled during Covid-19 when "everything was turned on its head and you found yourself with three others in a backyard shed with a lamp in the corner, a bag of cans and cocaine." The 23-year-old was just 15 when he took his first drink and 17 when he tried cocaine, but he is now three and a half years in recovery. "It was when Covid-19 kicked in that things got worse. I felt isolated and I'd often spend up to two days just sitting in my room and using," he said. "My progression into addiction was rapid. The addiction took everything away from me. It was when I had nothing left to give that I made the phone call for help." Advertisement Dylan, from Drogheda, Co Louth, began treatment in Smarmore Castle Rehabilitation Centre on November 30th, 2021, and hasn't picked up a drink or used drugs since. "All the problems I had were still waiting for me outside the centre but I just had to learn the coping mechanisms to deal with them. "Addiction is a very powerful thing and a little thought can turn into a craving if you let it. One drink was too many and 1,000 was never enough for me. During his addiction, Dylan went from spending €50 a week on cocaine to up to €500 a night and was a master of juggling loans and finances to afford the cocaine. Advertisement "I had people lined up so I'd always have someone to get the drugs off. "You could walk into any pub and not be too far from getting a bag of cocaine. It is so normalised now that if you are going out without drugs in your pocket, then you're doing something wrong." "Cocaine was a quick and easy fix, it's up your nose and it's done. "I think drink and drugs go hand in hand and alcohol is a gateway to drugs. Towards the end, I'd go to the pub and buy a diluted juice for the night. I just wanted to go to the pub to use drugs." Advertisement Ireland Tributes paid to woman (24) who died following Cor... Read More Even during his addiction, Dylan's family tried to persuade him to get help and made numerous calls on his behalf but ultimately, nothing worked until he decided himself to seek help. "My family tried multiple times to get me help and they were amazing but you can't get sober and clean for others. You need to decide for yourself. "I'd just say to families out there living with an addict that as much as we can hurt you and let you down over and over again, stick with us because there is a heart in there somewhere that needs to be loved." " I'm living my life to the fullest now. I don't have a flashy car or loads of money but I have peace of mind, happiness and people respect me - all the things I took for granted."
RNZ News
17 hours ago
- General
- RNZ News
Nicolas Shaun Miller's ‘cry for help' exposes serious addiction to child exploitation material
First published on Tracy Neal , Open Justice multimedia journalist Nicolas Miller told the police after he tried to take his own life that he had a 'serious addiction to child porn' and was afraid his offending would worsen. He has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. Photo: Open Justice via New Zealand Herald / Tracy Neal Warning: This story covers topics including online child exploitation and attempted suicide that may be upsetting to some readers. A man's attempt at taking his own life opened a Pandora's Box on his addiction to child exploitation material. Now a judge has deemed the man's quick confession to the police was a cry for help but said it didn't excuse his actions. Nicolas Shaun Miller told the police after they found thousands of items of objectionable material on his computer that he had a "serious addiction" to what he called "child porn". The confession to the police came about in "unusual circumstances", Judge Jo Rielly recently said in the Nelson District Court. Crown prosecutor Daniel Baxter said it was a sad situation for all involved. Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore said in some ways, Miller's addiction had almost killed him. The 31-year-old had been living alone in a caravan in Murchison, in the southern Tasman District, in what Dollimore described as "squalid conditions". Miller said he led a "boring, monotonous life", and, when he was not working, he played video games and drank to excess. He no longer had much contact with family, he was alone and isolated, Dollimore said. He said that on 17 November last year when Miller had tried to end his life he had consumed cannabis, watched pornography and the reality of his situation and his addiction had overwhelmed him. Miller was taken to Nelson Hospital and treated for serious self-inflicted wounds. "He came very close to killing himself. It was touch and go for him in ICU," Dollimore said. Miller later said he had tried to take his own life because he knew he had a serious problem that he struggled with, but didn't know where to reach out for help. Miller believed his addiction might lead to contact offending with a child which he feared he might not be able to resist, and that he favoured a "particular type" which he himself found abhorrent, Judge Rielly said. She said Miller's effort to speak up was a cry for help, but it didn't excuse the illegal behaviour. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison on seven charges, one of which was a representative charge, of knowingly possessing an objectionable publication. It wasn't until after mental health services had assessed Miller in November that a police investigation followed and he was charged. Miller had told a mental health staff member that he had been viewing "child porn" for the previous two or three years, and the police were notified. After a search of his address, several electronic items, including a computer tower, were seized. Forensic examination of the tower suggested it contained objectionable material on about 16,000 files. A subsequent search confirmed 14,146 items as objectionable. Miller had also accessed websites that had bestiality content on them. The representative charge covered an "extensive number" of images found on a hard drive, some of which were classified as the most serious of their type. Miller told the police that he viewed the images daily because they "excited him" but he knew he had a major problem. Miller also told the police he understood that viewing child exploitation material was not a victimless crime, and that children endured "horrific atrocities" in the making of such material, fuelled by viewers such as himself. Dollimore said Miller had "fessed up" early and had co-operated with the police in every way he could, and that he was desperate for help. Baxter said it was Miller's honesty that led to his offending coming to light, and the Crown was not opposed to credit being given for Miller's request for help. Judge Rielly said that from everything Miller had said, not only was he feeling extremely low about himself, but he was also very concerned about where his addiction might lead him. Judge Rielly said Miller also knew his behaviour could change for the worse and he did not want that to happen. In setting a prison starting point at five years, Judge Rielly said although Miller's relationship with his family was now strained, he had not sought to blame anything about his background for his offending. He was given credit for his early guilty plea and for demonstrating his remorse, his shame, his insight into the offending and his readiness to rehabilitate, to arrive at a sentence of three-and-a-half years on the representative charge and two-and-a-half years on the remaining charges, to be served concurrently. Miller was automatically registered as a child sex offender. If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111. -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
BBC News
20 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Hampshire 29-year-old to take on groundbreaking Europe walk
A former addict who shares her struggles through poems on TikTok hopes to document a groundbreaking challenge for suicide Birks, 29, from Andover, Hampshire, wants to be the first person to travel on foot from Europe's northernmost point in Norway, to its southernmost point on the Greek island of solo challenge is a 8,500km (5,280 mile) journey that will take her through 10 countries and last about a Birks said: "I'm doing this trek to make lots of noise around suicide prevention." She said she started taking antidepressants aged 13 to treat persistent insomnia, anxiety and her teens she struggled with anorexia and bulimia, before becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol at aged said: "It wasn't apparent at first: when you're young, people your age are drinking lots as well."Ms Birks said her "party girl" persona became increasingly destructive in her early 20s, and eventually "spiralled into everyday using".Then, in March 2021, she ran away from home and became homeless."My family didn't really know where I was. I put them through hell," she said. "I tried to take my life three times. Luckily, I was really bad at it."In May 2022, she found herself with "nowhere else to go" and was accepted back by her family "without hesitation".A friend posted about a recovery programme and she decided to attend an online meeting, which she said was "amazing".During her recovery, she was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder. She said: "I found poetry in recovery, I wasn't even 30 days clean, and I just picked up a pen and a piece of paper and started writing."By the time you get to rock bottom, you've got this rucksack on your back filled with so much stuff, and you think you're going to take it to your grave."Poetry became my way of expressing that, when saying things really bluntly felt too scary."Her poems struck a chord on TikTok, where she has more than 37,000 said: "I made a vow to myself that I didn't want anyone else to go through years of feeling lost and misunderstood."I just want people to know that it's OK to talk about it more, and there's no shame in anything that you're struggling with." She has been training to carry everything she needs in her 20kg backpack, including a tent and a large flag bearing the names of people who have taken their own lives. Some of them are friends, others were sent in by bereaved well-wishers online."I'm going to hit so many points where I think 'I don't know how I'm going to do this," she said."That's why I've got the flag, and that's why I've got people's names on my tent, because it's all these little reminders of the bigger picture."I'm determined to do this, so I know I will."She hopes to "honour the lives of those lost to suicide" and show people "it does get good again"."If you take it one step at a time, eventually you will find yourself back in the light again," she added. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
Fire in a drug rehabilitation center in violence-plagued Mexican state kills 12, authorities say
A fire in a drug rehabilitation center in the violence-plagued Mexican state of Guanajuato killed 12 people and injured at least three others, authorities said Sunday. The fire broke out early Sunday in the town of San Jose Iturbe, where the municipal government said it was still investigating what caused the deadly blaze. 'We express our solidarity with the families of those who have been killed while they tried to overcome addictions,' the municipal government said in a statement, adding that it will help to pay for the funeral expenses of those killed. Mexican media outlets reported that the victims of the fire had been locked up inside the rehab center. Mexico's privately run drug rehabilitation centers are often abusive, clandestine, unregulated and underfunded. They have been the targets of similar attacks in the past. The industrial and agricultural state of Guanajuato has for years been the scene of a bloody turf battle between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and a local gang, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. Guanajuato has the highest number of homicides of any state in Mexico. Mexican drug gangs have killed suspected street-level dealers from rival gangs sheltering at rehab facilities in the past. In 2020, gunmen shot to death 27 people at rehab center in another city in Guanajuato, Irapuato. In 2010, 19 people were killed in an attack on a rehab center in Chihuahua, a city in northern Mexico. More than a dozen other attacks on such facilities occurred in the decade between those massacres.
CTV News
a day ago
- General
- CTV News
Fire in a drug rehabilitation center in Mexico killed 12 people, authorities in Guanajuato state say
MEXICO CITY — A fire in a drug rehabilitation center killed 12 people and injured at least three others, authorities in the Mexican state of Guanajuato said Sunday. The fire broke out early Sunday in the town of San Jose Iturbe, where the municipal government said it was still investigating what caused the deadly blaze. 'We express our solidarity with the families of those who have been killed while they tried to overcome addictions,' the municipal government said in a statement, where it added that it will help to pay for the funeral expenses of those who were killed. Mexican media outlets reported Sunday that the victims of the fire had been locked up inside the rehab center. In February, five people were killed in a fire at a rehab center in Mexico City. The Associated Press
