I was bonkers: Ex ice junkie tells

$438 million dollars of methamphetamine have been seized by police in an Australian record

AS HE stood in front of a mirror in his mother's home, ice addict Jack Nagle couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Gone was the happy, athletic, outgoing young man he'd once been. In its place was someone completely different. And it shocked him.

"I was pale, I was skinny as all hell, I hadn't showered in something like two weeks. I looked like a hobo," he tells news.com.au.

He was 20-years-old and had been injecting and smoking ice, or crystal methamphetamine, for a year. But it was a 10 day binge, where he went through about $7500 worth of the drug that finally tipped him over the edge.

Mr Nagle while he was addicted to ice Source: Supplied

"I was bonkers. Some messed up things happened during that time. It all was very crazy," he says.

Mr Nagle, now 23, last week watched footage of Harriet Wran — the daughter of celebrated former New South Wales Premier Neville Wran — being led into court on a murder charge.

Wran reportedly told police she was "numb" on ice and desperate for her next hit.

Mr Nagle said it was a "sad" scene. But her descent into ice hell was nothing extraordinary in the mad world of methamphetamine.

"What happens is you lose your grip on reality. Your ability to reason just gets knocked out of the ballpark ... basically you'll do anything to get it."

Wran reportedly started with drugs like cannabis and ecstasy. Someone who enjoyed partying hard but was well liked and had a bright future ahead of her.

Survivor...Jack Nagle overcome an addiction to ice and now runs a treatment centre for drug users in Melbourne. Source: Supplied

Mr Nagle was the same.

Addiction experts say there is no 'typical' progression of substance abuse. But Mr Nagle and thousands of others have a frighteningly similar story.

It started with experimenting with drugs and a desire for something bigger and better.

"I had everything I ever needed," he says.

There was girls, his sport, a promising future, a good life. "But I always dabbled in drugs, pot and drinking." When he was 17 he thought "stuff it I'm going to party and chase girls and stuff" and began mixing with a different crowd.

Through those connections he first tried speed. Ice followed a little later when he was 19. From that moment there was no turning back — Mr Nagle believes he was hooked from the first time, he just didn't realise it.

"It was just so good ... And from the amount of money I was spending to the reaction I was getting [made it worth it]."

But ice isn't known as the "liar drug" for nothing. Soon his tolerance went up meaning he required more drugs for the same level of satisfaction.

Harriet Wran arrives at court after being arrested in relation to murder of Daniel McNulty. Former ice addict Jack Nagle says what happened to her could easily happen to any ice addict. Source: Supplied

Harriet Wran, daughter of the late NSW Premier Neville Wran has had an extraordinary fall from grace as the result of her ice addiction. Source: Facebook

Initially the "rush" and the feeling it gave him was too good to say no to. But that changed quickly "and it was all downhill from there".

By now he was totally transformed. Not just physically — "I was 6'6 and 62kg"— but "mentally, emotionally and spiritually" as well.

"It was like a psychosis all the time."

At his worst moments he hallucinated and thought his life was a TV show where everyone could see what he was doing. There were long black-outs where he couldn't remember what had happened. It was only after talking with his friends later they told him he'd been rambling, incoherent, thinking he was at the airport about to board a flight to Thailand.

At the start of his progression into ice addiction he didn't want to use the drug. But it was as if the choice was no longer his. "For the first six months I didn't want to use ice but I couldn't stop."

Every night after he got home and had used all his drugs he would say to himself "it would stop here". He'd smoke marijuana to help him sleep and vowed to wake up in the morning with a series of push ups and lead a clean life.

"Then I would get a resume and hand it out and get a job and a girlfriend."

Instead, "I just got back on it." Again and again.

That also meant he needed more money. Mr Nagle is open about this time of his life and the things he did to get drugs.

The use of ice, or crystal methamphetamine, by Australians is among the highest in the developed world. Source: Supplied

"I started doing things I never thought I would never do. Petty crime and things like that."

Armed with a "large sum of money" he embarked on a final binge. When the drugs were gone he turned up at his mother's doorstep and knocked on the door and ended up standing in front of the mirror, the reality of what he'd become staring back at him.

"It was standing in front of the mirror that I had a moment of clarity. It sounds funny to say, but it was almost like my life flashed before my eyes."

Before he was seduced by methamphetamine he had been popular, had girlfriends and a possible future playing basketball in the United States to look forward to.

It wasn't until he looked at his reflection in the mirror he realised how far he'd fallen.

"I thought about that. I was just crushed and broken."

He asked his mum for help and she booked him into rehab for a month.

THREE years later he is clean and doing his best to help others beat their addictions.

At DayHab, a Melbourne addiction treatment centre, their aim is not just to stop people using drugs but to make sure they stay off them.

They do this by treating the "underlying reasons" people use drugs in the first place, he said.

"Stopping isn't the hard part. Don't get me wrong, it is hard, but staying off them is harder."

Mr Nagle, the centre manager, recalled being helped by someone in rehab who was also a former addict and it helped show him recovery was possible.

"In our experience the best people that can help others with their addictions is reformed addicts ... It might sound elitist but it shows them recovery is possible.

Associate Professor Nadine Ezard, clinical director of the Alcohol and Drug Service at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital said drug users fitted into different categories, from mild, to medium and severe.

Graphic images of ice users have been used in promotional campaigns in the United States. Source: Supplied

Former ice addict Jack Nagle said his life quickly went downhill when he began using the drug. Source: Supplied

It was not accurate to say regular users of methamphetamine would all end up in the state Mr Nagle found himself in, she said. The reasons why the drug consumed so completely were varied but some of the common themes were experience to trauma and a history of substance abuse.

Professor Ezard said methamphetamine was a serious problem but she didn't believe it was "well understood" by the public.

"People are afraid of it, there have been high profile cases of people doing psychotic things and it's hard to ignore."

She said informed discussion was required to properly understand the challenges ice use imposed on the community.

Australia has one of the highest rates of illicit methamphetamine use in the world and the highest use among developed nations. Around 2.5% of Australians over 14 years have used methamphetamine over the past year — almost double the rate of most developed countries.

Earlier this year the Australian Crime Commission warned Australia's ice addiction had become a pandemic.

In an ACC report into drug use in this country Acting ACC boss Paul Jevtovic said the production, distribution and use of the dangerous drug was so entrenched it was a "national concern".

He said it was relatively affordable and accessible but had devastating side effects. because of this he likened Australia's ice problem to the crack cocaine issues in the United States.

+ If you need help with substance abuse Day Hab, in Melbourne, can be contacted on 1800 329 422 /1800-DAYHAB

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