 TLO what's pop? We are on twitch. We are not live But you can leave a like comment subscribe Turn on the post notification bells me. Let's continue to grow the family from Chicago to the UK Don't forget. We are partnered with the blueprint mastermind. This is one of the recent episodes not one of the recent But you know one of the episodes with all of us as the team There should be another one dropping soon. So if you could just go over there, you know leave a like comment on this one Let us know that you like it Don't forget ma'am. All my old videos are over here on Facebook And I do got a patreon where we're about to start a new show. This is England I think and then we're starting another one next week So tool in man link down in the description, man Got real heat over on patreon Let me put this man. This is I gotta put this nobody else do with me I spent 70 K a year on my hero in addiction not me This guy He's here to tell our story man, you know, I like these man because you know by telling your story You can save somebody else's life. You never know. Let's get into it, man. They could have put an X I had a great childhood Everything I got asked for really you know growing up on a On the outskirts of Cardiff, you know, and my friends who probably didn't have their mother around or their father around, you know single parents But my family great household. They're still together till this day and we had everything we wanted really In the summer we play sports They made sure I was involved in every activity Anything I asked for if they couldn't get it they'd get the next best thing and Yeah, I got fun memories as a child When did you start going down direction? When did you start taking drugs? I started taking Drugs at like the age of 16 17. I remember in high school. I was really against drugs I was anti-drug my uncle was a heroin addict. He was in prison for a long time and I Remember my father my mother My grandma drug drugs at like the age of 16 17. I remember in high school. I was really against drugs I was anti-drug my uncle was a heroin addict. He was in prison for a long time So you have seen it a lot. So you have seen it. So you were directly against it because of what you have seen Okay Don't forget man. Shout out to the first responders man. Y'all really make these videos what they are So continue to hit that like button man. I can't ask for no more man And I remember my father my mother My grandmother I used to see him go through a lot of stress used to go prison visits and stuff So I always kind of was drummed into me the drugs were bad My dad was anti-drug never smoked the fire. I never you know would drink on the weekends, but you know non-merch and I don't know it. It kind of had My dad was anti-drug never smoked the fire. I never you know would drink on the weekends But you know non-merch and I don't know it it kind of I was in coming into my last years of high school really where I Started to venture out on taking drugs started with cannabis and a lot of people would say this isn't true But it was a gateway drug for me. I had a few problem Like a lot of y'all think I do but I don't I just don't like it I don't like how it made me feel and keep in mind where I am in America. It is legal so medically medical where one is legal in Florida, but I'm from Chicago and medicinal and With myself I had my mental I had a severe mental health issues and I put my pathway to drug addiction into into three ways and that was bad timing the people I hung around with and my mental health I was diagnosed with severe OCD and ADHD, but what people Think when you say OCD is you know, you're the clean freak, you know, and that's clearly not the case for me If you went to my bedroom where in my house You wouldn't think I had OCD, but it's more of a rich ritualistic thing And I used to get obsessed with certain things and I always used to have like these anxious paranoid thoughts and If I'd have to do these certain rituals and these rituals could you know differentiate day-to-day And if I didn't do these rituals then I Automatically think something bad would happen either to myself or to a loved one, you know when we're all young like we we The pressure of of growing up being in the crowd and stuff. We don't want to admit we've got problems We don't want to open up that we've got problems. So instead of saying I've got problems, you know, I would try and find Give the youth one thing the youth has been letting people know when there's something wrong So salute to that keep that going on the next step is actually getting the help ways to masquer and and drug use is That was what the drug use was for and how old were you when you first hit heroin? I was seven just turning 18 when I first tried heroin and I was 19 That's not funny. Wait, you were from not doing anything jump dead in the weed in age I'm full on Quote-unquote smack head Can you talk through the sort of the hold it can have on you? It just just just runs your life. You you're a prisoner to it. You you can't do nothing You know all I you know and for the first couple of years I tried to blend in tried to cover it, but you might think you've got it under control But you just clearly haven't and you know, you can't go down the pub You can't go out in the weekend with the boys because you have to slide off because you need to use or you know It just takes all your normal social events away from you and That's just a little that's you know, that's just talking about the effect of what it has doing normal things The abnormal things I were doing to get the drug was was horrific Is he gonna tell us the abnormal things he was going to get that to get it That's gonna be crazy And the first five years of addiction I used to go around like universities and stuff and pretend I was a lot of students and Black people for many Yeah, I used to make quite a lot of money doing that And then it was only towards the second half my addiction when I started to become a Sharplifter and again up and down the country sharp lifting But it was just pure desperation the whole time she had desperation and How many times are you in prison? Ten eleven times ten. I know I've been Every time I went to prison. I did try to change my way It was it was a time for me where I thought I needed to change and every time I was in prison I always looked at like, you know, I'm gonna get out this time and sort my life out every single time There was a few times I'd have to go in there and do a detox do a clock off the heroin But there was times as well that I was on a methadone script was in there But sometimes you can get addicted to methadone too as well if they want you back on the street You want the harder effect and back slide back into the age and that don't help anywhere in a methadone script to me is It's kind of just dumbing you down as a person. I would say I've been on probably 1520 methadone scripts kicked off started again, where it's just a Vicious circle type of thing. So, um, yeah Y'all telling me this look like this. This is not there is no way that this is the same person Where's the middle of your beard? No, no, I'm not being funny. I'm asking a real question This is the same person. Hey, y'all need to stay drug-free man. Hey, listen Don't do that stuff Stay off of it, man. Let this man's story motivate you. Let this right here motivate you. This is why I'm impressed that he's off of it and looking much healthier Every time I come out of prison. I was you know back to using How did you stop and so obviously lockdown was Different it was it was new for all of us But especially for someone like myself who's a shoplifter a lot of the retail stores were shut. So we were traveling around to hit like at small cooperative shops and It was just getting on top. It was really I was really manic at the time This was like probably the worst I was Was a different person And I knew my body was was deteriorating at the time I was on a not email methadone script and I was using To two to three hundred pounds worth of how to win and crack a day. I never injected using to In at the time I was on a not email methadone script and I was using To two to three hundred pounds worth of how to win and crack a day Oh to the three hundred pounds like dollars like money. I thought he meant like LBS like what? I never injected heroin I always smoked it so I always had a problem in my lungs where I was smoking so much and One day in it was September the end of September come up to August. We're just past two years and Basically a friend of mine passed away who was my co-defendant we he used to drive me around everywhere He passed away and the same day he passed away. I got rushed to hospital And when I when I went into hospital I I come around a day later With all needles in me and stuff. So, you know drips and stuff in both arms and they said I had a sepsis and pneumonia And I thought I was gonna die like you know, I've many many times before like I've I've been in bad situations where I've had to do detoxes and you know I've been in hospital beds prison beds done all the stuff what I thought with you know This is the last time but I genuinely knew this was the last time So whatever My friend and I were using it it obviously had an effect on us when I was in hospital I kind of had this like awakening sounds cheesy. I know and But I had this type of awakening and I knew this would have to be the time I had to change I couldn't go through another another another detox and so what was different about either Your treatment or your mindset for the time that you do you got clean last his boy passed away And he was almost gone too. That's difference right gotta be right This is probably the the best thing that's ever happened to me and I think it's an amazing thing is something called boovah doll. It's a new drug Basically, that's been tested here in the UK, especially in Wales And I actually it's funny. I actually heard about the drug whilst I was still Coming up to where I almost went into hospital I heard about this drug that was going to be getting rolled out during lockdown for chaotic users like myself, but then when I went to hospital and And I was you know really ill in hospital the nearest come to me and he said look We'll keep you on your methadone script, but you're gonna have to go every single day now Include including weekends and or go try this boovah doll and It was the best thing that ever happened to me, you know, I'm two years clean now the first time in my adult life I'm free of drugs So how does boovah doll work? So it's it's an injection in into the muscle and you can have them in your buttocks your arm I has it in my stomach because I've got a bit of a belly there. So and What it does is it basically Releases a blocker into your system which lasts for 30 days So with methadone and with subutex and other opiate substitutes They last 24 hours. You need a new dose and there's a lot of bad effects with these these drugs as well with methadone You can still use on top because it's an opiate also with methadone It ruins your body. There's this this myth that like, you know, it gets inside your bones It feels like that and also it makes you actually feel like you're still using drugs because it gives it's very strong So if you are trying to get clean and they could put you on a methadone script You're just gonna feel like you're ahead of an addict still There's that that famous word for methadone. They call it the liquid handcuffs where You know, you're a prisoner to it this boovah doll and straight away It helps a lot of people in the sense of getting their life back Not only that a lot of these places where you go to pick up your methadone Is full of other people who are I like this one man because this this one right here probably Already, how many days has this been out? This one has been out for one day 103,000 people you don't know what 100 who the 103,000 people are that seen this but I guarantee 103,000 people that sink this They wouldn't got tried some of that boovah don't This video alone might occur somebody's life expectancy. I remember my father my mother My grandmother used to see him go through and I'm what What is the absolute number one easiest way to make money online in 2023? Well Is it basically Releases a blocker into your own you can still use on top body using drugs because it gives it's very strong So if you are trying to get clean and they can put you on a methadone script You're just gonna feel like you're a headache still there's that that famous word for methadone They call it the liquid handcuffs where And you know you're a prisoner to it this boovah doll and straight away it helps a lot of people In the sense of getting their life back. I've never heard of this at all This is needed in Florida right now. I can go to the park It's a park maybe two three blocks away from me on the hood side of that So I live right in between the hood and the rich people so I don't know why but like I always find a spot That's like that. I'm just comfortable But like if I go to a park like down the street It's like heroin park. That's what I call it. Like it's a bunch of heroin addicted people in there and They could really use this man because You know Not only that a lot of these places where you go to pick up your methadone Is full of other people who are on drugs? A high percentage of them don't really want to come off drugs They're using methadone as another way of a high so My dad used to say is these places where you pick up your methadone. It's like going to a gambler's anonymous in the in the coral or an AA meeting within the weather Coral a bedding top chain, a weather spoon, a pub chain Spoons For those that are on let yourself boovah doll if you did decide to go up go out and Get heroin again. Would it what effect would it have? Yeah, it would do nothing like You might as well You might as well just got a lighter than just being your money literally like it's it does nothing the difference with boovah doll other than methadone and sobiotex you don't get a buzz on it. It's not like Method don't where you kind of feel a bit this this is a total block it like you feel totally normal again And that can be tough for people who have suppressed their mind with such a strong painkiller for so long a lot of people in addiction Are hiding from trauma or they're hiding from things they've done whilst on drugs So it's masking problems and when and when you know you take that that blanket off people struggle What was that first month on it like for you? Yeah, it wasn't easy. I'm gonna be fair. And like I said when I it was the first month my my friend just died and I've got all these emotions coming back as someone who's coming off heroin as well Which you do anyway, you know, I'm My I'm having wet dreams, you know, I'm feeling like the life's going too My I'm having wet dreams You know, I'm feeling like the life's going too quick for me. I'm thinking about everyone I've robbed I'm thinking about everyone I've hit in my life I'm thinking about my make passing trying to put blame on myself like it when it went It wasn't comfortable for me. So I can imagine Other people who go on it. It might not be The most comfortable but when you get past our first month, it's amazing. It's literally I I live a normal life now How long did you use for in total? When it was coming up to say in years 12 years and if you include this one I first tried it at 17. Do you ever think what what it was about you that put you down that path? Yeah, like this You know, I'm I always say like I've been I said something recently About how like we try and dig for trauma like when when you go to see like a doctor or something They'll tell you to like Tackle the root problem and because like I was never a you know, I had a good child that I was never abused as a kid It's not like, you know Someone in my family, you know, it was like a tragic death and I could never find out what the problem was And and that's kind of why I carried on using because I didn't really find out until Towards the end when I started I'm listening to your story and I don't see the problem still coming off the drugs that I realized that like it could be the littlest of things that that make you Take drugs and and have mental health issues and stuff So when I look back, it was definitely my mental health and the decisions I made as a young child Where that whether it was a small thing or a big thing. I now work for a company called Kaleidoscope Who are based in Newport? I'm now employed within my city of Cardiff with a project called voices action change And it's all about co-production Service use and involvement, you know, it was only two years ago. I was actually on them streets Running ragged. So a lot of them know who I am. They've seen me at my Honestly, well, he just said that two years ago. I was on those streets running ragged Believe him y'all. Let's let me remind y'all This is not cap anybody can change See me at my worst. They know And you know, it was only two years ago. I was actually on them streets Running ragged. So a lot of them know who I am. They've seen me at my worst. They know I'm trustworthy and We're just trying to change The way we run services and have more of an involvement from people within services There's just a massive stigma around Drug users drug addiction junkies That's what needs to change