For about six years, Dale Cranswick used drugs and alcohol to get through the stress of being a chef at a busy Bunbury restaurant.
The 29-year-old says he was spending around $800 a week on marijuana, dexamphetamine, alcohol and MDMA to cope with a 70-80 hour working week and subsequent problems sleeping.
Dale Cranswick then and now.Credit: Composite image.
He “hit rock bottom”, saying he spent all day, every day high, missed important family events, was chronically depressed and numbed every emotion he had.
After a doctor prescribed antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication and sleeping tablets, Cranswick kicked his drug habit. He thought he had put the worst behind him, but that turned out not to be the case.
“I wasn’t myself any more,” he said.
“I was crying every day. I moved back home with my parents and I didn’t leave my bedroom. My family were really worried about me and staying home to check on me constantly.”
Cranswick said despite reaching out for professional help, he didn’t feel like he was getting any better.
He quit medication cold turkey and booked himself into a South West drug and alcohol rehab centre for three months, where he was not allowed a phone and instead encouraged to practice mindfulness and meditate.
He left a different person.
“We need to look specifically at the underlying root cause of addiction,” said Tabitha Corser, founder of Burswood’s The Whitehaven Clinic.
“I always tell my clients, you don’t have a drug and alcohol problem, you have a ‘my life’s not working’ problem, so let’s look at that – because most of our clients don’t have coping strategies without drugs. So drugs or alcohol is their coping strategy. So when you take that away from them, they’ve got nothing.”
Corser said over-prescription of medication for people battling addiction was hindering their recovery by masking the emotional and mental factors that fuelled it, causing a new wave of people struggling to rehabilitate.
She says 90 per cent of the people she treated at her rehabilitation clinic were taking prescription drugs to help with alcohol and drug dependence.
“Firstly, there’s that misconception in the community: take some pills, and you’ll be better,” she said.
“It basically is substituting an illicit drug for a prescription drug. It’s still a drug. It’s still not resolving the underlying root cause.
“I find it concerning that very [few people] are actually told that it’s a band-aid solution. They actually think that it’s the solution. So they’re sold this idea that you’re actually going to get fixed if you keep taking this medication. But of course, what it’s doing is it’s just pushing all the issues down and making it really difficult for them to actually resolve them.”
Tabitha Corser says long-term prescription drug usage is hindering drug rehabilitation.
Drug consumption in Western Australia has significantly increased since the state’s borders opened at the end of the pandemic, with data released in March this year showing a 40 per cent rise in methamphetamine use over the last year and a 55 per cent increase in cocaine use.
The statistics also show more than 131,000 Australians sought treatment services for drugs and alcohol in the 2022 -2023 financial year.
Corser called on GPs to push their clients towards working through the underlying causes of addiction.
But Dr Stephen Bright, a senior lecturer in addiction at Edith Cowan University, says the reasons lie with our stretched healthcare system.
“It is understandable why some GPs might not refer people who are seeking to reduce their use of alcohol or other drugs to psychologists or free publicly funded alcohol and other drug services, which operate across WA,” he said.
“And people who see a GP often feel ripped off if they don’t walk out with a prescription, which places an addition pressure on GPs to prescribe since ultimately, they are running businesses.”
Dr Bright said medication should rarely be the first-line treatment for any mental health issues, including alcohol and other drug dependence.
“For people wishing to reduce their use of alcohol, benzodiazepines and opioids, it is critical that medications form a part of their treatment plan,” he said.
“However, psychosocial interventions also play an important part in people’s recovery and GPs should be referring patients to services that provide these supports.”
Cranswick says this intervention was the only way he managed to get clean.
It led to him quitting life as a chef and going back to university to study psychology and addiction. He also got back into soccer and cricket and slowly put his life back together. He now works in the rehabilitation field as a program facilitator.
“There needs to come a time when you work it out for yourself, and you face what’s driving your problems,” he said.
“I wanted to give back and do what everyone else did for me.”
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