Former heroin dealer reveals his transformation after prison

Former heroin dealer Andrew Truong has shared his transformation after being convicted seven years ago.

Seven years ago, Andrew Truong was rising in the morning to spend the day selling and distributing heroin – he was a third-year teaching student and making a killing.

Mr Truong began selling drugs aged 19 and proudly represented the 2168 postcode in Sydney’s south west, associating with crowds committed to pulling in substantial volumes of “easy money”.

“I was fresh out of high school and at the stage where I started getting involved in the social scene where a lot of circles are consuming some form of recreational drugs,” he told news.com.au.

“So I thought I’d jump into the (drug dealing) business because I had a network.”

Andrew Truong used to wake up every day to go and sell heroin.

He started out selling pills and marijuana to “get a little more income”, which “was good” until he was arrested and spent a week behind bars for carrying a replica firearm.

On his release, he was driven deeper into crime as it connected him with a wider circle of people who thought he was “cool” and gave him opportunities to make more money selling heroin.

“My ego shot up another level. I was making a lot of money and spending it just as fast as I was making it,” he told YouTube channel Zoku Creative.

His scheming didn’t last long though – he was arrested for a second time aged 23 while in possession of heroin.

Mr Truong was mixing with the wrong crowds and getting into trouble.

He got into selling heroin after being busted with a replica firearm.

“There was no way I was getting away with this one,” he recalled in the video.

The pivotal moment plunged him to rock bottom – he had burned through all the money he made, his professional career prospects were shot, and his parents were immensely disappointed.

“When I first spoke to my mum from jail, she basically said, ‘I knew it, why didn’t you listen to me? Look what you’ve done to me, you don’t know how embarrassed I am’,” Mr Truong told news.com.au.

His mum “couldn’t stop crying” and his dad stopped eating.

“They probably took it harder than I did,” he recalled.

Mr Truong was in his third year of a teaching degree when he was jailed.

Two years into Mr Truong’s four-year prison sentence at Bathurst Correctional Complex though, he had an epiphany.

It was his 25th birthday and he had completed a gruelling camp outside of prison while overweight and in terrible physical condition.

While initially motivated by a desire to be in better shape by the next camp, he soon became addicted to “training hard”.

He committed himself to ‘training hard’ while behind bars.

“I thought that because I was unable to progress anywhere else in my life, I might as well progress physically,” he said.

“I started surrounding myself with the boys that were training seriously hard and I just thought, if they can do it, I can do it.”

When he was released aged 27, he made ends meeting pick packing and doing a few construction jobs, but eventually returned to his passion for fitness and got qualified as a personal trainer.

Now aged 30 and living in Cabramatta, Mr Truong’s existence couldn’t be more opposite to his former life of crime.

“I get up at four of five and head out to the gym to see my first couple of clients, try to squeeze in one or two training sessions, then start managing the gym I work at from about 10am,” he said.

He continued working on his fitness once released.

The 30-year-old mentors incarcerated youths.

“I might then attend a club meeting, then squeeze in another training session.”

About three afternoons a week he also mentors young incarcerated people through his friend’s Confit Pathways business, then will typically return to the gym to run a training class for members in the evening.

Between his Confit mentorship, gym management, and operating or his own personal training business One Out Training, Mr Truong has virtually no free time to get into trouble.

“I thought the more busy I get, the less likely it is I’ll get into trouble. I thought I would take up as much as I can and learn as much as I can, just so I can progress,” he said.

Across his three income streams, Mr Truong makes more than $100,000 a year – enough to pay his parents’ bills and live comfortably on his own.

In the next decade, he hopes to become a millionaire, retire his parents and take them travelling around the world.