Shane Samler before getting addicted to drugs (Image: Jam Press/Shane Samler)
A father has disclosed how he squandered £2.2million on a cocaine addiction that ravaged his nose and left his existence in ruins. Shane Samler, from Essex, estimates he was burning through £1,000 weekly on the substance, which nearly claimed his life.
The 38-year-old witnessed his enterprise crumble, pushed away his family and was left physically and mentally devastated as his world crumbled. During his bleakest phase, he would lock himself away in a room for days at a stretch, managing merely one hour’s rest daily whilst betting and taking the class A drug.
Shane’s world crumbled during his addiction (Image: Jam Press/Shane Samler)
The father-of-three’s body began deteriorating, with his nose entirely collapsing, his jaw locking up, and his complexion turning a ghastly grey shade. He’s now speaking openly in an attempt to stop others from tumbling into the lethal snare of dependency, emphasising the appalling damage the party substance can cause.
“I thought I had a whitehead spot on my nose and went to pick it and felt it go through it was like something out of a horror film,” Shane told NeedToKnow about his rock bottom moment.
“It was excruciating. I used to blow out pieces of cartilage. “I was always in and out of the hospital, reports the Mirror. “I used to have to have ice on my face, and I was on copious amounts of painkillers. I could only sleep for an hour at a time.”
In the midst of his health crisis, his family was bleeding money. He confessed: “All the jewellery I had, all the cars I owned I ended up giving them to drug dealers. I gave it all away for just a few hundred quid. I just wanted to die.
“I would have been happy for the cocaine to kill me. If I’m not doing recovery or working on myself, my head gets so busy, it feels like I’m getting dizzy. It gets so loud in my head. Cocaine made me calm. It did the opposite of what it should do.”
Shane damaged his nose (Image: Jam Press/Shane Samler)
Shane started dabbling with the substance at 15, and by 17, he was completely hooked. What began as typical weekend use quickly spiralled into a regular pattern, with the teenager splashing cash every weekend during nights out with mates. By 18, his addiction had completely spiralled out of control.
Shane admitted: “I was doing it once every week or month it wasn’t an issue then. It never controlled me; I was never addicted to it then. Then I started doing it from Friday to Sunday morning every week without fail, and on Wednesdays. It became a nightmare, and my life has been a mess ever since.
“I would get half an ounce on a Friday and I would take that out with me for me and friends to do. I was spending about £1,000 a week. I ended up getting into tens of thousands of pounds of debt with the people above me, and my mum had to pay £20,000 to bail me out. She almost lost her house.
“I just remember the way it made me feel. “It was the best feeling I can describe, apart from having kids. I felt like I was invincible. I felt like my confidence was through the roof.”
Tragically, Shane’s dependency spiralled further when he sought medical help for an eye problem and received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis at just 23 years old. Doctors cautioned he might require a wheelchair, leaving him devastated by the revelation. Rather than reducing his consumption, Shane’s cocaine habit escalated dramatically.
He plunged deeper into substance abuse, consuming larger and more regular amounts to block out his terror and anguish.
Shane said, “I was betting online and I kept losing because I couldn’t see properly, so I booked an appointment to see a doctor. I was told I had MS and would end up in a wheelchair, and my world just crashed. I remember the feeling it was horrendous. They were saying it could have been made worse by heavy cocaine use.”
Shane embarked on eight-day marathons that destroyed his existence whilst convincing himself everything was normal. He confesses to consuming an ounce each weekend and even pilfering money and metals from his thriving joint scaffolding enterprise to finance his addiction.
He confessed: “Everything was going really well with the scaffolding, but my use had got bad. I used to do benders eight days straight, getting on it. When I was doing big benders, I would send people into the bank to draw money out of the scaffold company. Every week, we took £1,500.”
In addition to his drug addiction, Shane also admitted to squandering £100,000 on gambling, a habit he developed while under the influence. Despite numerous attempts to overcome his addiction over the years, he found himself constantly drawn back into its clutches, particularly during periods of emotional distress, such as the death of a close friend.
Shane Samler and his family (Image: Jam Press/Shane Samler)
Despite several attempts at recovery, including one funded by a lottery-winning friend, nothing seemed to work. He revealed: “During my last relapse, I ended up in hospital I got a cyst in my head, couldn’t open my mouth, and my ears went totally deaf.
“I could barely stand up because the room was spinning so much. I called a friend who worked at A&E, and I went to the hospital. That was a turning point for me. I had spent years missing out on my kids growing up.
“I missed out on so much all I did was stay in bed getting on it. I was living in a bedroom in my mum’s house and would shut the door whenever they came round so they didn’t have to see me. I was like a homeless man living in a nice house. It was horrendous.”
Shane succeeded in staying sober for nine months before a single evening’s lapse sent him spiralling backwards. Now two months clean, he is working to reconstruct his life and restore his damaged nose, though he accepts that the marks left by years of dependency will stay with him permanently.
He concluded: “I’m optimistic I feel like I’m doing well. I have options now go to different rehabs, do different talks in different rehabs and do a course on public speaking. I’m trying. I just want peace.
“I feel as though I could help so many people. The only thing that stopped me was myself. I have things lined up this time, so I just need to keep busy. My worst enemy is myself when I’m left to my own devices, that is dangerous to me. I’m bored of relapsing, I really am. That’s why I share my story just to help people, so no one has to get to where I’ve got to.”
