Reformed addict says: 'Don't make my mistakes' (From Dorset Echo)

Reformed addict from Weymouth says: 'Don't make my mistakes'

10:10am Monday 30th March 2009 in Search By Dan Goater

REFORMED drink and drug addict Martin Phillips has written a highly personal account of his life in the hopes of deterring others from making the same mistakes as him.

By the age of 23, Martin, who now lives in Swallow Court, Weymouth, had left his hometown of Nottingham and was a body-builder running garages in London.

But by the age of 42, he was living rough in Shepherd’s Bush Green and spending thousands of pounds a week on crack cocaine.

Now off the drugs and back on his feet, Martin, 48, wants others to learn from his mistakes and has written an autobiography entitled ‘Stuck between a rock and an un-spiritual place’.

The book has been endorsed by local community leaders, including Weymouth street pastor The Rev Tony Stephens and the Lantern centre.

Martin feels his problems with addiction and what he terms ‘a spiritual void’ stemmed from an unhappy childhood and feelings of insecurity.

In his frank account, Mr Phillips claims to have suffered physical abuse as a child following the death of his father when he was just 11.

He admits to bullying other children and developing a passion for contact sports such as boxing and weight lifting as a way of tackling feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.

He said: “You feel like you’re creating a strong coping mechanism with your body on the outside but it doesn’t mean that you’re learning how to cope with what’s going on inside.”

Mr Phillips served his first nine-month sentence in a detention centre at the age of 17 after assaulting and hospitalising two other youths.

He began abusing steroids at the age of 23 but managed for several years to run garages in London with contracts catering to cab firms in the city.

However, his substance dependency grew until at the age of 42 he lost his business and his home and was living rough.

By this point, Mr Phillips claims he was spending thousands of pounds every week to fund a crack cocaine habit. He said: “It wasn’t really about reaching a low point as such – my drug was always ‘more’.

“Some people eat too much, or drive fast cars or gamble or have sex but for me it was drugs and alcohol.

“The problem is what it is inside of you that drives you.”

Martin, who moved to Weymouth because he felt it was a ‘good place to recover’, hopes that in writing about his personal demons he can deter others from following in his path.

Martin, who has turned to Christianity while recovering from his drug habit, recently passed a plumbing qualification and volunteers his time to help other substance abuse sufferers.

He is also hoping to find a publisher for his book. He said: “If writing this book can help one kid not to do what I’ve done then it was worth it.”