'Cocaine was easier to get than building supplies'

A recovering drug addict has said cocaine "took everything" from him, causing his life to spiral out of control until he finally got help.

Michael Nicholson started taking the drug "years ago," saying it "went hand-in-hand with weekends, partying, football and alcohol".

As his personal struggles mounted, including the death of his dad, he said he had found himself using cocaine to "numb everything".

Nicholson eventually went to addiction support group Silkworth for help, which he said was the best thing he had ever done.

"My life was a mess, an absolute mess," he said.

"I was just pushing people away. When you're an addict, everyone else is the problem, you're not the problem.

"I took the drug, then the drug finally took me and took everything with it."

Nicholson said he "could get cocaine quicker than I could get building materials most of the time at work" and the habit had crept into his days as well as nights.

There has been a sharp rise in cocaine seizures in Jersey, with acting Det Ch Insp Mark Hafey recently saying it was "the drug of choice" on the island.

In a warning to others, Nicholson said: "I lost everything. My home, my family, my job, my van, my tools, but I lost myself.

"I needed help, I didn't know where to turn."

Nicholson believes it was his eventual call to charity group Silkworth, the only residential rehabilitation treatment centre in the Channel Islands, which saved him after he underwent 11 weeks of treatment there.

He hailed the experience as the best thing he had ever done and said he has now been clean and sober for four months for the first time in nearly 20 years.

He said: "When I was in active addiction, I became a liar, a manipulator, a user, everything I'm not.

"I found the real me again in there and it was just an amazing experience. It was the best thing I ever did."

Nicholson said he had shared his story because "if I could save just one life, then all of this would have been worth it, the missing piece in my jigsaw".

Jersey's authorities said there had been 34 confiscations of cocaine in Jersey last year, compared to 19 in 2023.

They said 1.3kg (46oz) of cocaine had been seized in 2023 which had a street value of £267,400, compared to 10.5kg (370oz) seized last year, which had a street value of more than £2m.

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