Ex-meth user Opal Adamson says drug addicts are missing chances because it’s too hard to get to get into rehab

Meth users are missing their chance to get clean because it’s so hard to get into rehab in SA – with many giving up by the time they’ve won a spot, says an ex-user.

Drug addicts are missing the opportunity to turn their lives around, a former meth user says, because it’s too difficult to get into rehab.

Opal Adamson, 38, started taking methamphetamine in 2017, eventually kicking the habit last year.

She says getting into PsychMed’s Matrix rehabilitation program was a major step towards helping her give up the drug, but she was only able to find a place there six months after reaching out.

“It was absolute hell,” Mrs Adamson says of that time, when she would yoyo between using and breaking the habit for weeks at a time.

“There’s a massive gap in services for people. When you decide you want to get clean, you need to start that day.

“You don’t want to find out you can start in six months’ time – you could be dead in six months.”

Mrs Adamson, who lives on the Fleurieu Peninsula, is now volunteering to help others battle ice addiction through the Australian Anti Ice Campaign – a Queensland-based organisation raising awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine use.

Ex-meth addict Opal Adamson is now mentoring others to kick the drug, and speaks in schools and sports clubs to warn kids. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

She says a friend introduced her to the drug after she separated from her husband and at a time when she was unwell physically and mentally.

Within three or four months she was using it every day.

At first, she says, ice brought feelings of euphoria and extra energy, but over time, when she continued to use it the rush was gone and it wasn’t fun anymore.

“You just sit there vegetative and you’re very much withdrawn into yourself,” Mrs Adamson said.

“It becomes a way of life. When you come down you don’t feel very good so it becomes a constant thing to stay high.”

Like many other women who suffer from addiction, she says after her marriage breakdown, she experienced abusive relationships and became homeless. At times, she lived in a tent, and at others, in hotels or a boarding house.

She says a turning point in her addiction came early last year when she was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to Noarlunga Hospital for about four weeks.

Though the experience was “horrible”, and she was stripped of her phone and unable to maintain contact with her children or psychologist, it helped speed up her entry to the Matrix program.

It was a long road to recovery, Mrs Adamson says, but with the support of the program and family members she has turned a corner and hasn’t used methamphetamine since late 2021.

Now, through a “buddy” role with the Australian Anti Ice Campaign (AAIC), she’s using her experiences to help others struggling with addiction.

The mother-of-two provides a friendly voice on the other end of the phone – and checks in with her clients regularly to see how they’re feeling and help them find hope.

“It’s about encouraging them to stay on track,” she says.

“I help them to see the bigger picture and to see that they can achieve and get out if they want.”

Through AAIC Mrs Adamson will train to speak at events held at schools, sports and service clubs, sharing her story in the hope of educating others about methamphetamine’s destructive effects.

“The only thing I’ve always wanted to do in life is to help people,” she says.

“For the first time I understand who I’m supposed to help and why I’m supposed to help them.

“I look at my kids and don’t want them ever to have to go through that.”

For details, visit australianantiicecampaign.org.au.

To get help, call 1800 NO TO ICE (1800 66 86 423).