Former drug addict Darren Penney on how he’s turned his life around and is helping others do the same

Darren Penney has mourned as friends have lost their lives to drugs - and has felt helpless as his own life has spiralled out of control.

But it was a horror car crash he caused that could have claimed innocent lives that changed the former heroin addict's life forever.

On the way home from a four-day drugs party and unfit to be behind the wheel, Darren caused a head-on collision as he drove on the wrong side of the road.

“Drugs ripped everything from my life. At one stage or another I lost everything. It has been hell on earth. My saving grace was I still had contact with my family.

"My whole life was governed by drugs, every waking minute and most sleeping minutes because you'd be dreaming about it.

"From your first waking minute whether thinking about how you were going to get it or thinking about how you were going to try to not do it that day, which inevitably ends up with you doing it, it was constant.

"It was overwhelming. I had to stop."

Darren, who was sent to eight months for the crash where remarkably everyone escaped uninjured, has now turned his life around.

And today he shares his life story with schoolchildren across Bournemouth to encourage them to make positive choices about their own lives as part of the Resilience Programme, which is run by the Amy Winehouse Foundation and drug and alcohol charity Addaction.

Darren, 50, said: “I tell the kids about my personal experience of being addicted and isolated.

“It’s a privilege to be part of that and know it might save some young people from the kind of life I was living.”

Darren grew up on a London council estate and began drinking and taking drugs aged 13.

He explained: “On a council estate you become desensitized to it. All of my friends were drinking and smoking and from an early age you lose all your fear and don’t think about what it could lead on to.

“Drug use progressed rapidly from the acid house scene to experimenting with crack and heroin and by the age of about 16 I was drawn into class As.”

Darren explained he worked in the music business managing bands and took drugs because he enjoyed the party scene.

However he began suffering with low self-esteem and clinical depression and his drug addiction spiralled.

“I never made it into crime to pay for drugs or anything but I put myself in stupid scenarios because I was putting the drugs first.

“I had no morals, self-respect, self-esteem or care for anything. I didn’t like myself very much and was putting myself in situations I would never do for anything else.

“I wanted to stop for a long long time but didn’t understand why I couldn’t.

"I lived with my mum for seven years. She'd ask me to do the hoovering but I'd have to take crack just to do simple tasks.

"People would die of a drug overdose and we'd go out and celebrate by taking loads of drugs.

"We celebrated their lives by shooting up with exactly what killed them and put our own lives at risk.

"You are playing Russian roulette pretty much 75 per cent of the time.

"But there were times I actually wanted to die. I could see all the misery I was causing and I couldn't see a way out. I felt the easiest way to deal with it would be if I could expire.

“The turning point was when I got myself into a nasty car accident while under the influence of drugs.

"I was driving like an absolute idiot and I fully deserved to go to jail. It could have been so much worse.

“I knew something had to change.

“I realised things would only get worse and worse and I didn’t want them to get any worse.”

In June 2015 Darren was funded to go to rehab for six months before getting involved volunteering for the treatment centre and getting involved with Addaction and the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

“It’s an absolute joy to do it. Previously, I didn’t know what to talk to people about and felt so isolated I couldn’t even bring myself to pick up the phone to someone. To be able to speak in front of 200 young people feels amazing. I don’t get any anxiety or fear; I look forward to it because I know I’m going to get a real buzz and sense of achievement. It is an honour and a privilege and if any kids do come forward to address their own issues, it’s even more of an achievement.

“Thanks to the self-esteem and skills I’ve developed by taking part in the programme, I’m happier than I’ve been in years and found a way to move forward.

"I've managed to get through drug addiction because I like life too much.

"I think sometimes 'is it that amazing what I've done?' but then I think of the people who haven't made it, people I'd class as brothers who have gone and they are not here to fight another day.

"When I think of it in those terms it's quite an achievement."

Addaction provides drug and alcohol support to people across Bournemouth. Working with the Amy Winehouse Foundation, the Resilience Programme delivers assemblies in secondary schools where volunteers like Darren share their stories. This is then followed up by workshops with pupils, parents and teachers. To find out more visit addaction.org.uk. If you are affected by your own or someone else’s alcohol or drug use call 01202 558855.