1. SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 7
“Once you get sober you see
the trail of destruction and
the chaos it creates — it’s
brutal.
“It might seem like fun and the
in-thing to do, but all it will do is
destroy your life.”
Kyabram Teen Challenge leader
Matthew Aldersley, 22, said when
he was addicted to the drug ice,
his friends and family did not
recognise him.
“It was a different me; I was so
affected by chemicals that I didn’t
know who I was, what I was doing
and who I was hurting,” he said.
“I was just a real a***hole.
“I was really selfish and self-
centred and willing to steal off
anybody.”
After five years of heavy drug
use, Mr Aldersley was facing a jail
term.
He stole his father’s car,
assaulted a police officer and had
racked up many serious driving
offences when he was given a
12-month corrections order.
He made a second attempt
to be a part of Teen Challenge’s
rehabilitation program and this
time he stayed and graduated in
March.
When Mr Aldersley was 16, he
began using cannabis and then
moved to other drugs, such as
speed and eventually ice.
While the drug use started out
as a social thing with friends, he
eventually faced his addiction
alone.
In the latter days of his
addiction, he was injecting speed
and ice daily and his tolerance was
building to the drugs.
Drugs were costing him
between $300 and $700 daily.
Mr Aldersley stole money
from his mum and friends, stole
drugs and even pawned his little
brother’s Xbox.
“I was a p**ck to my little
brother,” he said.
“He hated me for a long time and
is still light-footed around me.
“I regret it and it would be good
to change it.
“I can only say sorry so may
times, now I need to show I’m
sorry.
“Ice destroys relationships,
destroys any sense of family and
any sense of morals.
“But when you are on it, there is
no bad side.
“I was blind, drugs were
everything to me.”
Mr Aldersley said he had no
sense of respect for the law when
he was using drugs.
While a condition of his licence
was to use an interlock device,
he sometimes drove other cars
without it, drove alone on a
learner’s permit and drove at
double the speed limit.
He knew he was flouting the
law, so when he was pulled over
by police he would take off, which
resulted in a police pursuit.
It was not until he joined the
rehabilitation program and
learned about personal rights he
realised it was not a given right
to be allowed to drive how and
when he liked and was glad he did
not kill someone with his reckless
driving.
He now sees what real
friendships are about.
When he was using ice, he had
a few girlfriends who he did not
treat well.
“I would use them for my benefit,
sex, money...” he said.
He did not have any spare
money for socialising because it
all went to drugs and cigarettes.
“It (ice) was my best friend; it was
the only thing that couldn’t hurt
me, it would only make me feel
good.”
The Australian Government National Drugs
Campaign’s signs and symptoms of ice use include:
• Increased heart and
breathing rate
• Trembling hands
and fingers
• High blood pressure
• Overheating and
excessive sweating
• Stomach cramps
• Blurred vision
• Bad headaches
• Dizziness
• Difficulty sleeping
• Reduced appetite
• Irritability and hostility
• Hallucinations
• Paranoia
• Psychosis
• Panic attacks
• Out-of-control aggression
• Itching, picking,
scratching skin
• Paranoia
“I grew up in the country
and had a very shel-
tered Christian upbring-
ing and I just thought ‘It
won’t happen to me’.
“When I was growing up, it
(drug use) was a hidden world,
but now this affects everyone;
it has no social barriers.”
Mr Aldersley’s mum Debbie
Hunt was oblivious to her
son’s drug use for many years,
because she did not know the
signs.
Now she realises the
aggression he had was a step
beyond adolescent behaviour.
In the latter stages of his
addiction, people claiming her
son owed them money turned
up at the front door.
“It was terrifying,” she said.
“One day they said they were
holding him and needed to
get money.
“I said ‘you can’t get blood
out of a stone’ — I had no
money.”
She also thought it could be
his mates playing a prank to
get money for drugs.
But it was serious; Mr
Aldersley came home with
fractured cheekbones.
Mrs Hunt said he once
staged a break-in of their
home and when he pawned
her youngest son’s Xbox, she
knew something was wrong.
When she confronted him
and made him return the
Xbox, Mr Aldersley said he
had a gambling problem.
Mrs Hunt said she realised
her son could drink a bottle
and a half of vodka and was
associating with mates she
was not keen on.
He turned arrogant, which
was not in his nature, and was
aggressive.
She said he went from a
bright kid who did well at
school to getting into all sorts
of trouble with the teachers.
Mrs Hunt did not realise the
extent of her son’s behaviour
until police called to the
house with warrants.
Her advice to parents of
teenagers was to ban them
from the skatepark, because
that was where drug dealers
lurked.
She believed the skatepark
in her hometown of Geelong
was where her son first
purchased drugs.
She said parents should be
informed about drugs and
know the signs to look for.
Mrs Hunt looked back on
old photos of her son and saw
how healthy he looked now
compared to the gaunt look
he had in his addict days.
She said while relationships
were being patched up and
bridges mended, he had some
permanent reminders of his
ice addiction — he may need
all of his teeth replaced.
Mrs Hunt said ice stripped
the calcium from the teeth
and caused them to decay.
His stepdad Andrew Hunt
said when they saw Mr
Aldersley a month ago he was
back to his normal self.
He said they were both
proud of his progress with the
Teen Challenge project.
News Journalist Elaine Cooney caught up with
former ice user Matthew Aldersley, who graduated
from Kyabram Teen Challenge’s drug and alcohol
rehabilitation program earlier this year. She also had
a chat with his mother in Geelong who, after a long
battle, is proud of her son’s progress.
Mother did not know signs
Ice’s trail of
destruction