How a homeless man and 'most prolific' drug user charity had seen turned his life around
A man who used to be homeless and one of the biggest drug users a charity had ever seen has turned his life around and now volunteers with the homeless charity which helped him to become sober.
John lived on the streets and was addicted to mamba, an artificial cannabinoid drug that causes serious side effects of psychosis and can induce a deep zombie-like state.
He would often sleep outside St Martin's Church in Birmingham, in all weathers and conditions, mostly sleeping in a bush which was overrun with rats. John chose to sleep on the streets as he struggled to stay in shelters at night due to his drug addiction.
However, the Good Shepherd Wolverhampton reached out to John and found him accommodation, supporting him on his road to recovery.
John now gives up his time to volunteer at the charity by doing some cleaning and other work within the dining service.
Paul Burns, a housing first key worker at the Good Shepherd Wolverhampton, said: "I first got to know John when I started volunteering with the Good Shepherd. I would say he was probably the most prolific mamba user that we have ever seen.
"My role then was to bring him in every day to a little room at our previous site on Darlington Street, to try and help him, but within ten or 15 minutes he would always be gone.
"It was difficult for him to even to stay in the Night Shelter back then, as the addiction was so strong, he just couldn’t stay in one place – it was like we had to tie him to the chair!"
Paul added: "There was this big bush outside, which was infested with loads of rats running around, but that was where John used to sleep.
"The one night I think he must have been bitten, because his head swelled up like the Elephant Man and his eyes were closing and we had to get him medical treatment pretty quickly. He was in a really bad place."
John, who is now 46, agrees with Paul's assessment, and said: "It’s not a nice experience it all, being on the streets and addicted to drugs, actually it’s terrible.
"I see those people taking mamba and it was me once, I was just like them. It’s an addiction that just takes over you and it left me so vulnerable as well.
"People can just come and take stuff off you while you are under the influence and you have absolutely no idea what is going on.
"It feels like a different life, and when I do look back now, I actually think: ‘was that really me?'"
