Sam Schreuder, 22, was last month convicted and fined $1800 as a low-level drug dealer who sold methamphetamine (ice) and cannabis to support his own ice habit.

Mr Schreuder agreed to share his story as authorities become increasingly worried about the rising rate of ice use in the region. 

The Glenelg Southern Grampians Drug Treatment Services is planning to tell a state parliamentary inquiry ice is destroying families across the south-west.

Mr Schreuder said he never advertised himself as a drug dealer but got hooked on ice for six months.

“I got into it through a local bloke. I blame him a lot,” he said.

“I had no idea when I started using ice about the effects. I’m now fully aware — it just sucks you in.”

Mr Schreuder said he was a calm, mild person but he had seen people “go off their heads” — aggressive and violent — on ice.

“It’s one of the worst drugs out there. I had a glimpse of it. My dealer took my money for weed and I got introduced to ice,” he said.

“This bloke is aiming for people to get hooked on ice.  He drains them of money and their livelihood. I hope he gets put away for a long time. Ice is a life-ruining drug. If you get hooked it can take years to get off, if you survive.”

Mr Schreuder said he first used ice on the Labour Day long weekend in March and continued using until a raid by police on September 6.

“I’ve more than learnt my lesson by getting done as a dealer when I never dealt in ice, only cannabis,” he said.

“I learnt the lesson the hard way. If I wasn’t caught I would still be addicted to it and using. You can give it up one weekend and by the next weekend your mind takes control and you are back on it.”

Mr Schreuder said ice and amphetamines (speed or ecstasy) were more readily available in Warrnambool than cannabis.

“Ask a few people and you’ll be sold ecstasy or ice. It used to be people went out for a few beers or got a bit of bud (cannabis) to smoke,” he said.

“Now that doesn’t happen. Now it’s ecstasy or ice that’s available and after you use it once you’re hooked. The majority of people using are dealing it. There would be 50-plus in Warrnambool.”

The former addict, who is now drug-free, has moved to northern Victoria to restart his life. He said he spent the best part of four years immersed in the Warrnambool drug culture.

“One of my best mates got me on cannabis. I don’t hold it against him but I would rather it never happened. I would never have gone down this path,” he said.

“There’s only one way to get off it. That’s to make the choice to not do it any more and stick with that choice. Rehab is a waste of time. Every person I know who has gone through rehab, most numerous times, is back on drugs. That’s just a way of getting a methadone hit.”

Mr Schreuder said education about the dangers of drugs, particularly to vulnerable people, was the only way to turn around the ice flood.

He said people with relationship and family problems were particularly susceptible to ice.

Mr Schreuder grew up in a religious family and with his nine siblings was home-schooled. He said that background didn’t help when he turned 16 years old.

“We were not given the choice or space to make up our own minds. I have grave fears my younger siblings will have the same nasty problems I have experienced,” he said.

“When you venture out into the real world after being told to not smoke,  you’re going to smoke, to not drink, you’re going to have a sip, and not to have sex, you are going to try and sleep with the first girl who shows any interest.”

Mr Schreuder said people involved in the drug culture rarely had the best interests of others in mind.

“People encourage you to do the wrong thing. Young people do not encourage each other towards a better life, they only think about what the benefit is to them.

“Since being off drugs I’ve had a lot of time to think. 

“I’m more cynical, I realise there’s a nasty side and after the first smoke you are in it. We need to do anything we can to keep people away from drugs.

“After that smoke you soon after lose your job. You’re sitting around all day smoking and when that doesn’t have the desired affect you then step up into speed and pills.

“Before you know it you’ve lost yourself completely and don’t recognise yourself in the mirror.”

Mr Schreuder said he was now trying to find independent accommodation and a job.

“I just want to start again. I want work to occupy my mind and bring stability, routine and normalness back to my life,” he said.

“It’s not normal to be off your head on drugs. I want to have a coffee with my mates and talk about work and not who’s involved in the latest deal and who’s in trouble. 

“That’s no way to live, but I would not have admitted that when I was on anything.”

Mr Schreuder said life had taught him simple lessons.

“My closing statement to my friends and the rest of the population caught up in the drug scene is that there is a far better life out there,” he said.

“It will not be easy. It will take weeks or months. 

“But there’s a lot more enjoyment, pleasure, self-esteem and confidence out there if you get rid of that lifestyle.

“Being involved in drugs is not living at all. You are just surviving.” 

n Mr Schreuder has landed a full-time job and now plans to live a peaceful life.

?athomson@fairfaxmedia.com.au