Father whose £1,500 a WEEK cocaine habit led to unemployment, debt and DEATH THREATS reveals how he turned his life around
Jonathan got into severe debt and lost his job before admitting he needed help
JONATHAN Edgeley, 40, lives in Sheffield with his wife Fran, 33, stepdaughter Isabelle, 10, and sons Luca, seven, and Raphael, eight months. He says:
“Arriving at my desk for work, I discreetly reached into my drawer for chewing gum to cover the alcohol fumes and a mirror to check for cocaine around my nose.
With my designer suit, job in sales and a loving partner and son, I was far from your average drug addict and alcoholic.
I started experimenting when I was a teenager after falling in with a bad crowd.
Dabbling turned into recreational drug use, and by my late 20s it was normal for a night out to include 10 pints, two bottles of wine and countless shots, as well as cocaine.
By 2005, when I was 29, I’d spend mornings in the office then go to “client meetings” in the afternoon, which was code for the pub with friends, where I’d sneak off to the toilets to snort coke.
By then I was in a relationship and had a three-year-old son Harry. I’d come home every night wild-eyed and reeking of alcohol. My then-girlfriend Alice* begged me to get help, but I refused, insisting I was just having fun.
That year, I moved from Sheffield to my company’s London office and was living alone Monday to Friday, which meant I could do what I wanted. I was soon spending £1,500 a week on drugs and booze.
At the time I was earning around £5,000 a month – not enough to pay for my habit.
Within a few months, my relationship broke down under the strain and things began to spiral out of control.
I received death threats from a dealer I owed money to, and in 2006 I lost my job because I wasn’t turning up.
I found a new position in Manchester, but lost that within months when I was caught drink-driving.
Even though I couldn’t even afford my rent, I bought drugs on credit.
My dad Paul, now 65, was so worried about me that he paid off my dealers.
He told me he lived in fear of a phone call telling him I was dead.
Then, in December 2006, I verbally attacked him and threatened to stab him when I was high and drunk. I felt so ashamed.
When he asked if I wanted help, I broke down and agreed.
Dad paid £15,000 for me to spend four months in rehab in South Africa.
Because I was given medicine to help combat the withdrawal symptoms, I didn’t find the actual detoxing as tough as the therapy, which helped me face up to the hurt I’d caused people.
But I felt determined not to waste my life and returned to the UK in May 2007.
Thankfully, I still had a good relationship with Harry, and later that year I met Fran in a restaurant where she was a waitress.
Like me, she had a child from a previous relationship.
We had our son Luca in 2009 and married in 2011.
With investment from a local businessman I set up my own telemarketing company, and finally life felt complete.
But like many recovering addicts I was lulled into thinking I was ‘better’, and in July 2014 I stopped going to support meetings.
Within weeks I was taking cocaine and drinking.
Fran threw me out, but I started attending meetings again and she took me back.
I haven’t drunk or used drugs since.
Last year we had Raphael, and now I’m a dad and stepdad to four amazing children.
I’m also a consultant at Sober Services, which helps drug and alcohol addicts get clean.
Seeing someone get their life back as I have, there’s no greater job satisfaction.”
*Name has been changed.
BTW
- Just over a third of UK adults aged 16 to 59 have taken drugs at some point during their lifetime.**
- 247 people in England and Wales died after taking cocaine in 2014.**
- Drug misuse costs the NHS £488million a year.***
Visit . Sources: **ONS, ***National Treatment Agency For Substance Misuse