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IT took a police raid and a 12-day binge for Tyler Schafer to recognise the enormity of his ice addiction.
Wanting to reconcile with his family, Mr Schafer grabbed a second chance and worked to get his life back on track after knocking a $600-a-day habit for six.
Today Mr Schafer is employed full-time, working towards a new cricket season and has repaired his relationships with his family and the community.
The Mortlake 20-year-old shares his story, pleading for others to stay away from the drug. Mr Schafer said he regrets trying ice and would take it all back if he could.
He first tried the drug on his 18th birthday and ended up with his head in a bucket.
“I still went back to it,” he said. "It's just not a way to live. I've tried to tell so many people to get off it. They're just sitting around, not having a job and bludging off someone else.
“You can't sleep on it. The longest I stayed up for was 12 days. I can't see how I used to do it everyday. I wasn't awake to the fact that I was just throwing my money down the drain, and my life."
Mr Schafer’s father died in a car accident when he was two, and he was left a large sum of money, which was detrimental to his problem.
The next time he tried ice was a week after his birthday.
“It drags you in slowly, slowly. I had a large sum of money and nothing to spend it on.
“I started just doing it on weekends, then gradually it became everyday.”
Mr Schafer would often take out the maximum draw on his debit card.
"I was very different at the time, which was one of the reasons why I did get off it,” he said. “I wanted to be a part of my family again. I was fighting with my mum and step-dad all the time, but I don't do that anymore.”
In the past six months Mr Schafer’s life has changed.
"It's been a rough journey, but it's good now,” he said. “I'm loving the way my life is at the moment. I jump out of bed at 6.45am, ready for work. I've just signed up for a traineeship – Certificate III in Agriculture – at the farm I am working at.”
Mr Schafer is a talented cricketer and said his club had provided support.
“I love my cricket,” he said.
“The cricket club … made me set some goals that I had to achieve and now I'm here.”
Mr Schafer said he avoids ice at all costs.
“If it comes out if I'm at house, I'm gone in a flash,” he said. "It's an epidemic. Not so much in Mortlake, but around the district it is. I don't know what they are going to do to stop it.”
He visits a Western Region Alcohol and Drug (WRAD) centre nurse once a month and Mr Schafer said his parents often told him they were proud.
He is looking forward to the future.
“I've already texted my cricket coach a few times to ask when training starts.”