Wullie has been going along to Community Friends now for some time and says that he enjoys meeting up with people and enjoys talking to the volunteers.

Wullie shared his experiences of his drug addiction and the services of his local addiction centre. He says that health professionals that have not been through the experience do not understand the physical pain that people like himself are in.

Wullie reflected on his recent issues and shared that he had a great life working as a plasterer and managing his addiction by being on a methadone programme. He was able to hold down a job and was meeting a new positive circle of friends as a result.

Wullie was able to do this as his methadone was issued weekly, however that all changed after a visit to the Centre one day. Wullie stated that he had been out for lunch and had drank one pint of lager prior to his appointment, as soon as his worker saw him in the centre he was judged on how he looked, at that point Wullie admits he became angry.

The worker then undertook the relevant tests which came back negative and within the limits allowed, however Wullie said that the worker made their own judgement and not the test results and changed how his prescription would be issued.

As a result Wullie had then to pick up his methadone on a daily basis rather than weekly which meant it cost him his job.

Wullie couldn’t pick up his prescription daily prior to picking up for his work as the chemists weren’t open at that time in the morning. Wullie stated that he became depressed due to having no work, although prescribed tablets he didn’t take them as he stated they weren’t working.

Wullie reflected on the methadone programme and stated that people should not be put on such high doses and should be given better aftercare to help manage their doses down as he feels it becomes a real psychological issue for individuals and very addictive. He feels the programmes are too long and people should be given support to come off methadone completely with the support of Suboxone tablets.

Wullie stated that from his experiences he wishes now that he never asked for help, he also feels it would benefit people better if their support workers had real life experience of addiction.

Wullie’s goals for the future include:

• Initially getting his methadone prescription changed back to weekly from daily
• Getting a place in rehab
• To be completely off methadone
• To be back working again