'I started taking ecstasy at 13. I ended up losing everything'
04.09.2022 - 19:50
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
“I started smoking cannabis, taking amphetamines and ecstasy when I was 13-years-old”, Tina admits. Living in a children’s home, she says it was really easy to get hold of’ as a youngster with no stability in her life.
Over the course of more than two decades of addiction, she watched as her friends died from overdoses around her. Now, she helps others kick their habits.
The number of drug deaths in Greater Manchester reached a record 368 in 2021, revealed by new statistics published in August. That figure is the highest since records began almost 30 years ago, having risen year-on-year during the pandemic.
READ MORE:Heroin and cocaine delivered quicker than pizza in Greater Manchester reveals ex addict
Drug treatment charities have labelled the surge as ‘deeply concerning’. Meanwhile, patients in recovery are reflecting on the impact of the pandemic, as they share stories of how the isolation made them spiral deeper into their addiction.
Tina understands the relationship between mental health and addiction - and the depths to which attempts to self-medicate can lead.
Her drug use came with a background of pain. Tina says she used substances to try and get away from the catastrophic mental impact of personal trauma.
“I used to go round to my friends at the weekend and we went to a local place we knew we could pick up some ecstasy tablets from,” Tina Hill, from Leigh, tells the Manchester Evening News . “The smoking (cannabis) was an everyday thing.”
“I was smoking, at first, to try and regulate myself, make me feel like I was on the same level as everybody else,” she said. Other people seemed like they were having a much better time than me.”
But the problem only worsened: “I started using cocaine after a while because