Strong will needed to break addiction
Sitting in the Rockingham Salvation Army chapel, Dave looked down at his feet and said: "It's been hard, but I'm clean now".
It was three years ago Dave, who did not want his surname published, decided to put an end to his addiction to methamphetamine.
Turning to friends for support and reconnecting with Christianity, Dave has kept his promise to himself to stay away from ice.
In one word, the 44-year-old described life on the drug as "hard".
He lost three years in his early 20s in jail for grievous bodily harm, spent months abiding by parole conditions, looked on as his family relationships broke down and four of his friends died as a result of a bad dose of meth.
Dave said he was only 18 when he was coerced into the drug world.
"I didn't even know what drugs were until I bumped into a couple of mates of mine," he said.
Homeless after having an argument with his parents and being kicked out, Dave said the first drug he ever tried on the streets was heroin.
In the space of a year, he had tried cannabis, speed and eventually meth - which he used on and off until the age of 40.
Dave said after the first dose of meth, the body was triggered to want more and the need to feed the addiction was unexplainable.
"You feel like you have got that much strength behind you, you would take on the world," he said.
He said $50 would buy "a shot" and would give an addict one hit, or a 24-hour high.
"The come down off that could last all day, it spins you out - you get agro and no one wants to know you or help you out - but most people just go and get another shot; they don't care how they do it," Dave said.
"You are always thinking about where you can get money from for another shot."
"People do go out stealing so they can keep their habit - they steal, they do home invasions, robberies, it doesn't worry them."
Dave said his time in jail, made him realise he never wanted to go back and he avoided criminal activity, only buying the drugs he could afford.
He said he remembered feeling invincible on meth, but the comedown highlighted the horror of the reality of being addicted.
Dave said he knew he could not change his past, but hoped sharing his story would stop someone else from making the same mistakes.
