Drug Addiction Stories

At the height of his career, David Bowie, whose given name at birth was David Robert Jones, and cited to be one of the most influential writers of the pop age was hiding a secret that few knew. A secret that many hide, he was addicted to cocaine.

David Bowie's Cocaine Addiction

While David Bowie was on his “Diamond Dog” tour, he was cited as living on a diet of milk, hot peppers, and yes, cocaine. During the height of his drug addiction, videos and interviews show him sniffling almost constantly, and responding to the questions with answers that only David Bowie could understand.

His appearance was almost ghostly, with his thin pale structure and gaunt face. It doesn’t seem ironic that one of his more well know alter egos was known as ‘The Thin White Duke’, in which the title alone seemed to personify his very appearance. It has even been reported that during the height of his drug addiction that he weighed a meager 95 pounds.

Eventually David Bowie was able to kick his cocaine addiction and used his celebrity rock-star status as a way to reach others who were also struggling with cocaine and other addictions. He became an advocate for anti-drug usage and reaches out to children and adults alike warning them of the lingering affects after drug use is discontinued, sometime enduring for the rest of a persons life. David Bowie has been quoted in the past as saying that “He has unbelievable holes in his memory, along with his mind being like Swiss cheese, and suffering emotional damage.”

Like David Bowie, there are many celebrities and musicians who also suffer from cocaine addiction and other substance addiction. It shows that cocaine and drug addiction can strike anywhere, any place, anytime, and doesn’t care who you are, or whether you’re a celebrity or rock-star.

The fact that so many celebrities, such as David Bowie, have made the decision to use their life experience to share with others and possibly touch the life of another and keep them from walking down the same path is inspirational and encouraging.

It humanizes them, and allows people to relate to them, when generally people tend to put celebrities on a pedestal and exempt from the everyday life struggles and choices that we all face. The truth is, they’re people just like we are, with a gift and an opportunity to share their story, which could make all the difference in the life of another

I was just like any normal teenager with a life that was normal, filled with activities, sports and was a brilliant student at academics as well. Probably a sort of kid every parent would want to have, not until I fell into the wrong group, made just one wrong decision that turned my whole life and youth around. Little did I even know that it would grab my entire life in its claws and squeeze every bit off me as well as those close to me.

Like other addicts, my childhood was not filled with turmoil. I had the best of parents, good education and many good friends. When I ended up in college, I wanted to be even cooler and much more popular than I was. I ended up making a few wrong friends who were already into cocaine and smoked marijuana. Something I knew about, but hanging around them gave me some sort of aristocratic feeling. Until one evening at a friend’s gala birthday party, I was smoothly forced into taking just a drag. Then I didn’t think I would end up being an addict, what went through my mind then was that I would definitely have the will power to over come it.

Although being envied for showing the best will power, I acted against it. I ended up asking for a bit on occasions. Very soon these occasions were frequent and the frequency only increased, and so did the cravings. I soon used up all my saved money that I had collected from working part time. I couldn’t even afford it anymore! The least thing on my mind was loosing any of my friends or my job. And to my utter surprise that’s just what happened. Not that I cared much about it, since all that was on my mind was where I would get the best cocaine.

Now I have just a few friends that I can count on just one hand, don’t go out much too often. Dislike meeting people and think I am really cool. I have no explanation to this addiction and how I can get rid of it. Some part of me wants to quit strongly, but it seems so impossible. The day I plan to do so, the cravings get even more intense, and I end up doing cocaine even more. I am like a zombie now, with not many interests that attract my attention. When I am high on cocaine, I am on a roll and in seventh heaven.

I need to get out of this drug addiction really quick; I do know subconsciously of the consequences and might even probably suffer from them. I am at a desperate stage now, and would like someone to help me get rid of this addiction.

How did you find out about the Narconon program?
I found out about Narconon because of an overdose:  While I was in Toronto I would come home sometimes for a few weeks and then run away again and hitchhike back.   One time while I was in Toronto, I overdosed on heroin and my parents were there, which was very embarrassing.  They arrived at around 2:00am after they got a call.  They decided that they would find a solution for me – and this was Narconon.

At the time (1998) Narconon was just getting set up in Quebec Province so I was one of the first people on the program here.  At first I was scared and by the third day I wanted to go back to drugs, of course.  For the first two weeks I was staying at home while on the program, as it was not fully set up, and all I talked about during this time with friends on the phone was heroin.  That’s all I thought about and all I talked about.  My life was heroin and I still sneaking it, even though I was on the program.  I convinced people I knew from high school that it was a good thing to do, so they would do it with me.  My motivation was to have people doing it with me; people would not give me a guilt trip or try to get me off it because they were doing it too.

Did you stick with the program?
I eventually ran away back to Toronto and started panhandling and doing drugs every day.  It got so bad it even got up to twice a day.  I remember getting sick when I stopped using and thought it was just a cold or something, but of course as soon as I took drugs again all the symptoms disappeared – so then I knew what was actually happening.

I recall someone afterwards offering me cocaine, but I said “no thanks,” as I was not interested anymore. I knew then that the Narconon program is really effective.

After a couple of weeks I woke up one morning all depressed and everything hit me: what I was doing to myself, what I did to my parents by running away and so on.  Then I was overwhelmed with a lot of grief.  I called my mother but I couldn’t even talk because I had this knot in my throat.  There was my pride and at the same I felt broken from my own doing.

She told me to call the director of Narconon in Canada, who fortunately was in Toronto, and I went to see him looking and smelling like a dirty street kid.  He was really cool and very understanding of where I was coming from.  After that I was on the bus that night and in the morning when I arrived in Montreal, someone from Narconon picked me up and that was it.

So now you wanted to get off drugs?
It wasn’t so much that I wanted to get off drugs; I just didn’t know what I wanted at all.  I didn’t even think I had a problem because I was doing drugs which is what I thought I wanted (back then) and that was it.  But I was depressed and I did the program because I felt bad for my mom and dad.

Then at some point, while I was at Narconon, it turned around for me: I no longer cared about drugs – my only interest was doing the program.  The Narconon staff had a lot to do with that because of their knowledge, experience and their understanding.

I recall someone afterwards offering me cocaine, but I said “no thanks,” as I was not interested anymore.  I knew then that the Narconon drug addiction rehab really effective.

What benefits did you get from doing the Narconon program?
One big win for me occurred one day during the Detoxification program: I actually remembered my past!

Before that I had not realized that I did not really have a past or a future.  I was not in present time and I was just kind of “there.”  In the sauna, all these memories of me being a kid with my parents – all these happy memories came back.  And that was a huge win.  It was like “Oh my God, I was a kid at one point!”

Another win was being rehabilitated in other ways: I was a vegetarian before I started drugs and when I was living on the street, the more drugs I used the less I cared about my health or what I was eating.  Free food was free food and I would eat whatever.  While I was on the program I started caring again about what I was eating.

I also remembered that I was an environmentalist (as well as a vegetarian) and that I cared about all these things.  I would then go through Narconon to make sure that the recycling was properly separated from the garbage; I would ensure that I was eating healthy again and so much more.  I actually cared once more!  And this included wanting to help people – and this was because of the Narconon drug rehab program.

TO BE CONTINUED…