“I consider myself pretty nice, laid-back, chilled person but on the gear, there were times when I became – for lack of a a better word – a psycho.”
Those words are from Olivia, from Melbourne. She has a cropped blonde bob, wears glasses and speaks of the past with the candour of someone who appears unaffected by it.
But Olivia is on the other side of an all-consuming addiction to ice that enveloped every part of her existence. Her relationships, her job, her savings. You name it, ice affected it.
On Wednesday night’s episode of You Can’t Ask That on ABC, Olivia was one of many former – and current – ice users who discussed the extreme highs and bottomless lows that came part and parcel with their involvement with the drug. And in doing their very best to break down the stigma that comes with drug use and addiction, Olivia broke one of the biggest stereotypes of them all: that all addicts are “junkie scum” with a “scabby face” and “no teeth”.
Because Olivia is just like you or me.
“I didn’t know much about ice, I was pretty naive as a drug taker. My friends were doing it,” she told the program.
“They pulled out a pipe [one night] and they seemed to be having fun, so I just did it.”
When it comes to our narrative around addicts and particularly our ‘War on Drugs’, so many of our conversations focus on what happens during the addiction and the plight of those after.
But what about the lead-up? What about the myriad of very real reasons people feel the need to jump on board, escaping a reality that feels frenzied and full and all too much?