Former addict is nominated for award (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Former addict is nominated for award

9:15am Friday 14th November 2008

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Former heroin addict Michael Beckley, who lost his job, home and family to drugs and saw fellow addicts die, has been nominated for a prestigious award for getting his life back on track.

Mr Beckley has been nominated in the individual achievement category of the Star awards run by the Shaw Trust, a national charity that provides training and work opportunities for people who are disadvantaged in the workplace.

He said: “People were dying next to me on the streets and in squats. I’d wake up and people would have overdosed next to me.

“I hit rock bottom in March 2005 – too many people were getting too ill, too many people were dying.

I realised I needed to turn my life around.”

It all started for Mr Beckley, of Affleck Close, Toothill, when he was prescribed the amphetamine tenuate dospan, which is no longer used by the NHS, for obesity. He was just 13.

He became addicted to the drug which gave him a high, before moving on to cannabis, alcohol and ultimately Class A drugs.

The 47-year-old married in 1989 and, despite his drug habit, was able to maintain a largely normal life including holding down a job and having children.

Mr Beckley, who is a rock and jazz musician, said: “It’s quite easy to function on recreational drugs.

There are more people out there who work to pay for their drugs than you would imagine – that’s what it was like for me for quite a while.

“Just working with someone you wouldn’t notice – it’s only if you’re close to them that you notice.”

But his habit spiralled out of control and he moved onto the harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. In 2001 he lost his house and subsequently his family.

“I built up an immunity and you need more and more,” he said.

“It’s what happens with drugs, you can’t get off, it’s a progression.

It’s only when it gets out of control that it all falls to pieces.

“If you are a drug addict you have to lose your home eventually because you become completely dependent. There’s a Jeremy Kyle culture where they say: ‘If you love them, you would stop’ but addiction’s not like that, you’re physically sick.”

Mr Beckley ended up living on the streets for three and a half years and was in and out of squats. In one year he was evicted 19 times, each time losing all of his possessions.

He also shoplifted to fund his raging habit.

After being arrested for stealing alcohol in 2005 he was offered help. Following numerous previous attempts to quit drugs he was referred to Gloucester House – a Salvation Army addictions rehabilitation centre in Highworth.

He said: “Gloucester House was really important, they’re currently struggling to survive, which is really sad as they are one of the only places that do what they do in this area.”

He was also helped by the Octobus Project – where he at first participated in the Artline project, before setting up his own Musicline project.

“I went along to Artline twice a week for two years,” he said.

“We would produce art, but the beauty of it was that you became great friends with other former addicts and we would help each other through it.

“I set up Musicline after two years to use music as a method of helping addicts. We go along, have fun with friends and we’re all in it together – it’s a really big self esteem builder. I play my music to my family and it shows them that I am still clean.”

He is now back in contact with his family, including his brother who he did not speak to for 30 years. He is intent on paying society back through his voluntary work and financially through repayments of the benefits he received.

Mr Beckley, who has five children and two grandchildren, said: “I really don’t think I would have made it without any part of the puzzle.

“I can never pay it back completely, but I will do everything I can. It will never end, it will take the whole of my life to try and pay it back.”

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday.

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