Tracey Anne Bills quit meth addiction at Rockhampton’s rehab centre

A former police officer’s daughter spent three decades entrenched in meth misery and the crime that came with it. Now, she’s revealed what finally led to her successful stint at a Queensland-first rehab.

Tracey Anne Bills, 47, has turned around her life from drugs.

A former police officer’s daughter, who spent 30 years as a slave to methamphetamines, has now been 11 months clean with the help of Queensland’s first purpose built, State Government funded residential rehab.

Tracey Anne Bills, 47, shared her powerful story outside Rockhampton Magistrates Court where details of her pre-rehab crimes and incredible recovery were read out this week.

Ms Bills, who was born and grew up in Cairns, got hooked on meth after being introduced to speed when she was 18 years old.

She spent the next three decades consuming about 0.1g per day.

“It takes over your life, kind of like you can’t do anything without it,” Ms Bills said.

“I was very young when I started using.”

Before taking a hit, she would feel like she had no energy or self-esteem to do anything but once she was high, she would feel a “massive rush of excitement” and “everything, all of a sudden, is really happy”.

Tracey Bills, the daughter of a former Queensland police officer, was addicted to meth for 30 years. She is now clean of drugs and living away from her drug associates after spending 10-months in Rockhampton's new rehab at Parkhurst.

Ms Bills said she had tried rehab before – about nine years ago – but only lasted one week.

“It was always the same. And no matter how much drugs you use, it doesn’t change it anymore.

“You get to the stage it’s just you only using to be normal.”

When asked what was different now, she explained it was not only costing her money but also, hurting loved ones.

“I was driving my family away from me,” she said.

“I couldn’t trust anybody.

“I realised that no one was my friend unless I had drugs or something.

“And I just thought ‘it’s time to change’.”

Ms Bills attributes her success this time to the fact she was ready to quit and no longer wanted to use drugs.

“I was ready when I went in there,” Ms Bills said.

Her mother, who had been an abusive alcoholic, also died about a year ago.

Ms Bills’ lawyer, Samantha Legrady, told Rockhampton Magistrates Court during sentencing on July 10, that her client really had nothing left in life at the time of her offending.

She was living out of her car before she entered rehab.

This was after she found tobacco in the shed of the house she had been living in and fled out of concern it was linked to crime, leaving behind all of her belongings.

Ms Bills had previously been convicted in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court for unlawfully moving tobacco in 2021.

She pleaded guilty on July 10 in Rockhampton court to 11 charges including serious assault of a police officer (she had grabbed one officer by the throat), obstruct police, public nuisance, unlawful moving of tobacco, possessing a knife in a public place, refusing to provide a specimen roadside and also at the hospital, drug driving and driving unlicensed.

Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale, who praised Ms Bills’ rehabilitation efforts, placed the now Rockhampton resident on an 18-month probation order, fined her $1000 and disqualified her from driving for seven months with convictions recorded.

“You really have come a long way,” Ms Beckinsale said.

“You do have a significant mental illness; it’s a difficult thing to manage.”

Tracey Anne Bills, 47, used methamphetamines for 30 years. She has now been 11 months drug free after spending 10-months in Rockhampton's rehabilitation centre.

Ms Bills, who has schizophrenia, spent one month in the mental health unit before going to the Lives Lived Well rehab centre at Parkhurst.

The $16 million facility, which opened in May 2022, was the first purpose-built public residential rehabilitation facility in Queensland, funded by the State Government.

It’s the first facility in the state to offer withdrawal, rehabilitation and family units on the one site, allowing residents to go through their whole rehab journey at the one place.

The facility has 32 single adult individual private rehabilitation units, an eight-bed withdrawal unit and two three-bedroom family units for parents with children up to the ages of 10.

It provides continued support once the residents finish their treatment at the facility through Lives Lived Well with day programs, counselling and other outreach services.

These days, Ms Bills leads a solo existence after cutting ties with those who she knew from her days of using drugs and after not making friends in rehab as she said all the fellow residents wanted to talk about was drugs.

She said she had tried to keep in contact with her three siblings over the years but they did not want to talk to her because of her drug use.

During the recent school holidays, Ms Bills spent time with her 15-year-old son, who lives with her former Queensland Police officer father, and has plans to get a two-bedroom unit so she can see him more.

While her social circle is small, she has expressed interest in helping out at the food bank, attending a social group that’s interested in art and maybe doing gardening for the council.

Accompanied at court by a social worker, Ms Bills said she had learned how to deal with her anxiety and deal with triggers while at the rehab centre.

She said she has put on weight since she quit and was feeling better.

“It’s great, it’s definitely worth doing this,” she said

“(Lives Lived Well) is not like any other rehab – you get your own room …

“If you stick it out, it just gets easier.”

Originally published as Tracey Anne Bills quit meth addiction at Rockhampton’s rehab centre