Woman's life 'ruined' by ice after trying it once on schoolies trip
A young Victorian woman, who had just finished year 12, has revealed how her life "completely crumbled" after a spur of the moment decision to try the drug ice while on a schoolies trip.
Anthea Anagnostou has a hard time remembering exactly what has happened in the six years since that fateful night but admits her ambitions of pursuing a career in psychology are a distant memory.
The then 17-year-old travelled to Rye to celebrate with her mates when she convinced herself it was acceptable to smoke ice for the first time.
The 24-year-old told Yahoo7 News it was a decision that would go on to cost her a four-year relationship, her job, her education and her future.
"I tried to make it acceptable for myself, I was thinking 'I’m on a holiday, why not'?"
"I didn't sleep for four days, I was awake for the entire thing, I didn’t have any fun, I didn’t go to the beach, I just went a bit crazy."
Anthea knew then and there that it would not be the last time she tried ice.
"Once you do it once, you're f******," she said.
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"It didn’t end after that, we kept doing it, it wasn’t really spoken about, it just kept going."
Years went by "in a blur" and attempts to get clean came completely undone.
"It’s really affected me, time just goes quickly and then you realise you haven’t done anything with your life," she added.
"I’ve missed out on holidays, travelling, saving money, doing a course, having any kind of future."
Stinjeints in rehab quickly swapped to stints living on the streets but Anthea admits the lowest point came when she added gambling into the mix.
"Gambling with ice, it's even worse, you blow all your money and it's money that you don’t even have.
"You’re sitting in your car, thinking I just got paid and it’s all gone, you think 'I’ve got two weeks, what am I going to do'?
"You can be so clean for so long, and then randomly you want it, you don’t even know why, it never goes away.
While Anthea said she knows she will have to battle with her crippling addiction for the rest of her life, she offered stern advice for anyone thinking of trying it, even just once.
"You may have fun in that moment but that moment passes and so do the people, and you are left with this horrible pain," she said.
"It’s not worth the price you will pay, you will never completely get off it."
