Young woman shares her story about turning from a success real estate agent into an addict to ice just ten years ago. She also shared how it was possible to make the transition.
Jessica Gaddes was 31, a Penrith real estate agent before her life spiraled out of control. Her home was hers, she had a happy relationship with her husband and loved to travel.
She is ashamed of her lapse into a “black hole”.
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Jessica Gaddes was 31, a successful realtor who had her own property. However, she lost everything when she started smoking Ice.
At the tender age of 15, Ms. Gaddes began engaging in “risky teenage behavior” to make friends. She started smoking pot and drinking alcohol.
She continued her risky behavior into adulthood, when she started snorting speed. This drug was a “big thing” back then.
However, it was only when she first tried Ice that her life started to spiral downwards.
Seven News reported that she said, “It took mine soul.”
Ms. Gaddes (pictured) was behind bars for her 28th birthday due to her Ice addiction. But, police said they played an important role in getting her clean.
Ms. Gaddes was renovating her home when she heard that a friend recommended they use speed smoking to make the job go faster.
“And I didn’t say no. It wasn’t speed…it was ice,” she replied.
She developed a severe addiction to Ice from that point on. Ice was her daily diet for five years.
Three months later, she decided to sell her house in order to get away from the drugs. She moved to Surfers Paradise and found her new apartment blocks full of drug dealers.
“I can remember thinking to myself, I am going be an addict.”
Another attempt at getting clean, Ms Gaddes moved to Sydney. However, she soon got in trouble with the law and ended up behind bars.
She did not consider rehab when her drug dealer suggested.
Ms. Gaddes has been clean for six years and now shares her recovery journey on social media in order to assist others.
At first Ms Gaddes didn’t think she needed rehab.
On her 28th Birthday, Ms Gaddes became addicted and was eventually put in a cell. It was her moment to “get her life back together”, she said.
Ms. Gaddes, despite numerous run-ins against the law, said she owes her willingness to clean up to the police who, according to her, ‘loved my back to life.
“They never stopped setting me straight, no matter how many times I failed them.
However, it was not an easy journey.
She is a bartender now at 31 and plans to go into addiction recovery.
Ms Gaddes lived in poverty and on the streets of Mt Druitt (West Sydney), and was in and out rehab centres all over the state.
Ice continued to be her friend for five more years. She found herself hanging out with ‘bad people, doing bad things’.
Ms. Gaddes finally left rehab after a prolonged month in jail on a series of drug-related charges.
After six years of being clean from the drugs that took her entire twenties and ruined most of her life, Ms. Gaddes is now a bartender in the hospitality sector.
She thinks she could have lived a full year if she kept using.
To help others, Ms Gaddes wants to get into recovery.
Ms. Gaddes is now dedicating herself to sharing the story of her recovery via social media, in order to assist people struggling with mental health or addiction.
She candidly posts her lived experience on her Instagram and TikTok drawing praise from social media users for breaking the stigma surrounding addiction.