Oxford Gatehouse & Oxford Night Shelter -

Readers Group/Book Club

Mark Johnson, Wasted

Meet the author Mark Johnson at 2.00pm on Thursday 3 April
at Christ Church College, followed by tea in the marquee.

We can meet people at the main gates.
He's also speaking in the evening & anyone interested
can ask for a free ticket.


Andrew W Smith
Project Director, the Gatehouse
18 St Michael's Street
Oxford OX1 2DU

0777 3333 728
www.oxfordgatehouse.org




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We’re talking about the book “Wasted”

by Mark Johnson.

Si: It was very good, it was quite harrowing in some parts, especially in some parts, especially for me personally, having the same experiences as him, being homeless and being a drug user, although I’m not using at the moment.

CM: So were some of the experiences in the book, ones that you’d experienced yourself?

Si: Definitely, especially that first night, of sleeping on the streets. I was in Oxford, he was in London, but even so he describes how he was very scared and shocked that first night. It’s quite a shock to realise that you’re homeless and that you really have no where to go.

CM: When he had his first night on the streets in London, he had someone to help him out – someone who was already sleeping rough and knew the ropes – did that kind of thing happen to you?

Si: No, I was completely alone. I knew other homeless people but there wasn’t anyone there when I went to sleep rough. I slept in the underground car park at Gloucester green. The reason I did that was that you get the heat of the cars, when you go there its warm but by six o’clock in the morning its quite cold and you get woken up by the sound of the first cars coming in. That’s probably not too healthy with the carbon monoxide coming from the exhausts. I think a lot of people end up taking drugs or alchohol on the streets to numb the effects of sleeping rough. The mental stress of noting having anywhere to go.

Particularly in the book, “Wasted” by Mark Johnson, he had a lot of problems when he was young; his dad beat him up, that kind of thing. I didn’t have that kind of thing at all. My parents were good people, they are still married and there was no abuse. In my family we may have been smacked if we were naughty but we were never kicked or punched so there was never any physical abuse.

CM: At various points in the book Mark goes back to his his family and they try to help him out, did that happen to you.

Si: My parents were very supportive at first but because of my addiction, I stole from them on more than one occasion. At one point when I was withdrawing from drugs, I stole my Dad’s bankcard and helped myself to 40 quid. It was the minimum I needed to get “well” and to get into Oxford to score. The bank prosecuted me and I ended up with eighteen months probation. I did the OSAP (Offender Substance Abuse Programme). So when I went home after that and my dad had had a phone call from his bank, he wouldn’t let me in and so I was officially kicked out.

But now I’m getting on with my parents and reducing my methadone down to 65 milligrammes a day from 95 to 65 in 5ml drops
I’m not using, the last time I used was 5th February.

CM: Well done. The descriptions of drug use in Mark’s book, are they true to life??

Si: Very accurate, really bang on, 100%.

CM: it had the ring of truth about it.

Si: Absolutely, 100%! I didn’t do snowballs – crack and heroin – I would smoke crack and inject heroin. I started by smoking heroin but then moved on to injecting. The fastest way to insanity is to inject crack. I tried a snowball once. It’s a euphoric feeling followed by a numbness brought on by the heroin. You feel the crack first then the heroin. From what he described in the book it was very similar, very accurate.

CM: It’s not all negative is it, he does talk about why people do it. The visions he had when he was in the rave scene. . .

Si: Oh yes, I used to go to Raves; LSD was my drug of choice when I was fourteen. And I think it opened my mind quite a lot but I don’t think it lead on to taking hard drugs, and I don’t think cannabis did either, because I was a heavy cannabis user. I used to sell it as well. Mark did that too, he used to travel around dealing. And that’s it, if you can fund your habit you don’t think what its going to be like when you’re ill,. But eventually your money dries up. On the day before Valentines day about four years ago I got dumped by my girlfriend and mugged by Asian rude boys. And that led to me not being able to pay my dealer who I owed 1900 quid to. So I spent all my profits on crack and heroin, about 100 quid every day for fifteen months, when my money supply run out, I had to go beg for money, which is not a very good thing to have to do.

CM: In the book Mark does some incredible dangerous things, hanging out with criminal types, stealing drugs

Si: I haven’t experience that but I can imagine being in that situation. I’ve never dealt class A but he would have been under the thumb as well from his dealer. They have a lot of power over you if you are addicted to a substance like crack cocaine or heroin.

CM: In the book he goes very, very low. There’s a scene in the book where he’s got his baby on the back seat of the car

Si: He leaves his kid in the flat when he goes out to score. You see for me personally if I had a kid, especially with my current girlfriend who doesn’t even smoke tobacco, I think that would be the saving thing, that would be it, I wouldn’t go near drugs every again. There’s always a danger I could relapse – I’m not completely clean yet.

CM: I got that impression from the book – it’s a bit stop go – takes a lot of attempts before he finally stops using.

Si: Yeah - there’s one bit where he’s on his way to detox services and he finds twenty quid and goes off to score instead. Money is my biggest trigger. I give all my money to my girlfriend on “giroday” so I can save up for something nice, maybe driving lessons or something for the flat.

CM: In the book Mark buy lots of expensive climbing equipment that just sits in the corner of the flat unused.

Si: Yeah but now he’s a successful tree surgeon.

Reading that book for me, sometimes I think I’m never going to get off opiates, never going to get clean. I’m in the very early stages of recovery. I’ve been maintained on methadone for a long time. When I got to the end of the book it gave me hope. He goes very low, its very harrowing and especially if you are on those drugs. You think god I’m never gonna get out of this. Opiates affect the pain receptors that make withdrawal one of the worst feelings in the world. You get feelings in your arms and legs like you’ve got to shake them out. I was banging my arms and legs on the sides of the bed, causing myself pain to distract myself from the pain of withdrawal. That’s why it’s so difficult to get off. People are scared of what that process will be like. He must have known that he could just walk out and score – like at the beginning of the book, he says he’s going to walk out of rehab because he feels so rough.

I’d recommend that book to anyone, drug user or non drug user. I want my girlfriend read it, so she knows what to expect. So it goes low but it shows there is hope, and you can get out of the addiction. Even though I can explain it to her, reading that book gives it a useful perspective.

I read a lot of books, mainly stuff like “The Wheel of Time” series by Robert Jordan. “Wasted” is a really good book, really helpful, really accurate. I’m looking forward to meeting the author.
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MARK JOHNSON will also be interviewed by MARCUS MOORE
in the evening
Wasted
Thursday 3rd April, 6.30 pm
Festival Room 2, Christ Church
£6.30 (we have some tickets for this session too)

Beaten as a child, constantly in trouble at school, Mark Johnson began stealing at seven, was drinking by the age of eight, took his first hit of heroin aged eleven and ended up in Portland prison as a young man. In this searingly honest memoir, Mark chronicles his descent into the depths of addiction and criminality, and his astonishing recovery. Today, he runs his own thriving tree-surgery business, employing and helping other recovering addicts. His story is at once shocking and inspiring – a compelling account of one man's struggle to save himself, and help save others in the process.

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