Men Aged 40-49

Bill first tried alcohol at a young age when a family member offered him a drink. He started drinking fairly regularly in his teens.

While working in a ‘high pressure’ job, Luke began drinking every day as a ‘release’ and a way to ‘block’ feelings of depression and anxiety

From his late teens into his twenties, Opal worked in industries where he says working hard and ‘drinking hard’ were ‘widely accepted’.

Phoenix grew up in a ‘violent home’ and describes his parents as ‘alcoholics’. In his mid-teens his parents separated and he left home and began drinking regularly.

Andrew started smoking cannabis daily in his late teens and in his twenties he started drinking alcohol heavily. He now describes his alcohol and cannabis consumption as ‘addictions’.

Matthew has smoked cannabis ‘for the better part of thirty years’. He finds it helps him cope with depression, and gives him hope and motivation.

Barry started drinking regularly and smoking cannabis in his early teens after a close family member died. In his early twenties, he began taking heroin and has continued to take it on and off since then, which he now describes as ‘an addiction’.

In his mid- to late teens Bobby began smoking cannabis and taking speed regularly with friends.

Misja found himself homeless in his pre-teenage years. He says he began taking ‘anything’ he could to ‘get high’ and in his early teens he started taking heroin regularly.

Ned began taking heroin in his late twenties, stopping after a few months when he felt he had developed a ‘habit’.

When Peter was in his early twenties he tried a variety of drugs but avoided heroin. Then in his late twenties, he decided to try heroin and since then has taken it intermittently.

Throughout much of his thirties, Sean took heroin, ice and cocaine, typically with friends, sometimes in relationships, and also alone. His drug consumption changed when he began a new relationship in his late thirties.