Pubdate: Sun, 17 Dec 2006
Source: Sunday Telegraph, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2006 News Limited
Contact:  http://www.sundaytelegraph.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/436
Author: Ellen Connolly

MY STORY OF ICE ADDICTION

A FORMER private schoolboy has told how the drug ice  wrecked his
teenage years and sent him spiralling into  a life of crime.

Sean Gooley remembers staying awake for three and four  days at a
time, unable to sleep.

He remembers stealing thousands of dollars from his  boss to feed his
habit. And he remembers spending  terrified nights in jail after a
crime spree. "You  forget what your life was previously," Mr Gooley
said.

"All I wanted to do was do it every day. You don't  think of the
consequences - you just want that rush,"  he said.

Now aged 25, he was released last week from six months  in
rehabilitation and is hopeful, this time, of  recovery. He has
enrolled in a course to become a taxi  driver and he wants to join the
Young Liberals.

Mr Gooley, who came from Cronulla, said his life  started spinning out
of control at 16. He began smoking  marijuana and moved on to party
drugs and, eventually,  ice. "It was before the ice epidemic and no
one knew  very much about it," he said.

His girlfriend introduced him to it. What began as a  weekend fix
quickly turned into a daily one. And he  escalated from smoking it to
injecting it. "That's  where my life fell apart. It was a lot
different from  other drugs. It was a really intense drug."

He dropped out of Year 11 and started working full-time  at a
supermarket where he stole daily from cash  registers. "There'd be a
rush in getting the money, a  rush in scoring it and in the end a rush
having it.

He said it was fun "at the beginning" but after he was  sacked the
emaciated teenager was forced to steal. A  crime spree of burglaries
and car-stealing spun out of  control.

"I spent a few weeks in jail because I didn't have  bail, and that was
pretty scary," Mr Gooley said.

But his time in jail left a lasting impression and  after he received
a three-year suspended jail sentence  in March he went into
rehabilitation.

Since getting out last week, the recovering addict has  been staying
with good Samaritan Col Hamilton in his  Carlingford home in
north-west Sydney.

Mr Hamilton, 72, a retired bank manager and  father-of-three, has been
taking in drug addicts for  the past four years, offering support and
a bed. He  said generally they respected his home and rules. "I
haven't lost too much stuff," he said.

"Every now and then the stereo will go into hock or the  video.
Generally, I have the receipt and so I go and  buy it back." He
attends court with them and has at  times put up bail. The young men
often watch Mr  Hamilton play bowls.

He said he tried to counsel them although that could be  tough,
particularly when they were coming down off ice.  Mr Hamilton said:
"This ice, of course, is the worst of  the lot."

He said he got a sense of satisfaction when they kicked  the habit.
But not all did. "There's a 60 per cent  strike rate. The other 40 per
cent go back to their old  ways or end up in jail."

Mr Gooley, who is renewing ties with his mother, said  having a safe
refuge would help his recovery.
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