More than a decade ago Sam (not his real name) began injecting speed as a way of coping with a rough divorce.

He was 22 at the time, and said ice (meth-amphetamine) hadn't made a name for itself on the Coast.

"It was non existent when I was around," he said.

"You were doing speed in Tasmania, because meth wasn't really a thing then.

"It (speed) was self esteem in a syringe."

Moving from the Coast to Queensland Sam then discovered ice.

The drug had already surfaced in the Sunshine State for a fraction of its street value cost today.

Sam kept chasing his next high and found himself doing roughly between two and three grams of ice a day.

"I was doing anything I could to get my hands on, things like cocaine, speed, ecstasy, methamphetamine," he said.

"I was really out of control and living the party lifestyle seven days a week.

"I died three times.

"In the space of a couple of years my heart stopped and I had to be revived over a couple of years.

"I would drink two bottles vodka in a day, shoot up a few times, smoking weed and doing everything I could to get as wasted as possible, and it killed me a few times."

Then came the day Sam would change his perspective on hard drugs forever.

Sam had his best mate die in his arms from a heroin overdose as he waited for an ambulance.

"It was pretty traumatic and it made me realise drugs weren't a game any more, and that what I was doing had serious consequences," he said.

"I'm living a promise to not go out like him."

That was eight years ago, and Sam came back to the Coast to begin a five-year stint at getting clean from ice.

He checked himself in for a week-long detox at Sulphur Creek's Serenity House.

"It gave me time to get my will power back and my sense of self back," he said.

Then came his time at Evandale's Missiondale Recovery Centre.

Sam's success wasn't instant, but the combination saw him win his battle against ice.

He now wants to see an increase in the amount of beds for people battling a substance abuse in Tasmania and said a review into rehabilitation services needed to be completed every three years.

"If you walk past me now you wouldn't even know that I was a drug addict," Sam said.

"I've got a job and a beautiful fiancee.

"Things have come in a full circle for me as I've gone from being in a really bad place to where I always should have been."

Sam now resides outside of Tasmania, and even wants to work in community services to help others with drug addictions.

He said for current users to listen, learn and pay attention to those who have beaten their demons.

"If you take it one day at a time the next thing you know those days with add up to months, those months will add up to years and things get much easier."

Source: The Advocate