Drug Addiction in Australia by Tom Valenta

Author:Tom Valenta
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780855724405
Publisher: Michelle Anderson Publishing

Ralph’s brother, George, took a similar path of self-destruction and harm. He too went on methadone after decades of heroin and alcohol abuse. While on methadone he would drink ten or twelve stubbies of beer a day. He was diagnosed with liver cancer, had a transplant and has somehow survived. Ralph attributes George’s survival to a strong wife who has taken care of him and has refused to leave. A wistful Ralph ponders on why he has found himself on his own and whether there’s still a chance, at fifty-eight, of finding a partner. ‘I want to feel even more okay about loving life,’ he says. The hostilities with his former wife have subsided and he sees his ten-year-old daughter every second weekend. So why does Ralph now believe he kept using heroin? ‘Because I couldn’t stand it when I wasn’t using; I couldn’t stand what I was left with. The world was just too empty, too uncomfortable, and the voices would tell me how bad, how worthless I was.’

What of the parents who worked long hours to give their two sons an education and to provide them with all the stuff that money could buy? Finally Ralph’s laconic veneer disintegrates. He struggles to get words out and tears flow as he takes off his glasses and reaches for a box of tissues on a nearby table. ‘Dad died of a broken heart. He just couldn’t understand how his two sons could turn out like this. Mum got Alzheimer’s. I nursed her in her final two years. Every day, every single day, I told her I loved her and was sorry for the pain I caused her. By then she couldn’t speak but she occasionally smiled at me. I think she understood.’

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