LETTERS AND COMMENT
Jellypics
‘ I had defeated my junk food addiction years ago, and managed to lose more than 16 stone and reduce my waist to a healthy 32 inches – but drug addiction still plagued my life massively. Now I’ m free from it all for the first time since I was at primary school.’
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I was very interested to read the article on nutrition( DDN, October 2025, p6). I’ m finally in recovery from a long list of substances – including a junk food addiction that resulted in me reaching 30 stone in weight with a 56-inch waist, with dangerously high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. I have also been addicted to alcohol, cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine and pharmaceutical drugs – which have caused various physical, mental and legal issues over the many years they have plagued my life.
Recently however, my addiction struggle has landed me in prison – and my incarceration has, for the first time in 33 years, enabled me to find strength to break free from addiction. I had defeated my junk food addiction years ago, and managed to lose more than 16 stone and reduce my waist to a healthy 32 inches – but drug addiction still plagued my life massively. Now I’ m free from it all for the first time since I was at primary school – and feeling so much better both physically and mentally than I can ever remember.
I have started studying nutrition, beginning with a book called Food: WTF Should I Eat? by Dr Mark Hyman. Your article lists high fat and sugar intake as imbalanced dietary choices, but Dr Hyman’ s work shows this is not entirely accurate. High sugar is of course very bad indeed, but high fat can be very beneficial according to Dr Hyman – as long as it’ s from good sources.
The chocolatey protein bars, protein coffee drinks, graband-go shakes and even meal replacement shakes mentioned in the article would have negative impacts as they are usually full of sugar and sugarbased additives disguised under various names people cannot even pronounce, let alone identify and understand. The article mentions nutritional deficiency as worsening physical and mental health, and while I’ m not in disagreement, this can be a double-edged sword. For instance, milk is considered by most people to be nutritious, healthy and needed to build and maintain strong bones. Yet countries with the lowest milk consumption have been shown to have the lowest rates of osteoporosis and fractures. There are many other issues with the hormones in milk and the supplements added to low-fat milk – which is one of the main ingredients in the shakes and coffee drinks mentioned in the article.
One thing that service providers may be able to try is self-fermenting fruits and vegetables, which offer a myriad of health benefits, have a long shelf life and can be easily done with just a jar, water, salt, some spices or herbs – you can ferment just about anything. Frozen berries are another – they are relatively cheap, can be stored for a long time, and can be used to make smoothies that are highly nutritious and full of antioxidants. Key nutrients such as vitamin C are very beneficial and a simple way for drug services to assist users to care for their health. While it’ s difficult for me in prison to access all the books, I’ m hoping that on my release I can fully throw myself into this and help people in need. Name and prison supplied
STUCK ON METHADONE
After reading about the risk of overdose( DDN, November 2025, p4) I would say that, sadly, this is commonplace in prisons. And I have personal experience. What’ s scary is that my prison will do a rapid detox, and that’ s if you’ re lucky enough to keep your prescriptions at all. If you’ re on diazepam, pregabalin or strong opioids – and for a long period, as in my case – you’ re on a rapid detox and will be left in withdrawal.
If you’ re on opioids, tablets or morphine there’ s a mistrust of diverting, so the discrimination is the same. They offer you methadone and will increase your dose if you’ re complaining or still in withdrawal.
I got off methadone – it was hard but I did it. It’ s highly addictive and much stronger than street heroin. I went onto sublingual buprenorphine then asked to go on the buprenorphine injection, but after a week I noticed it wasn’ t working for me. So I asked to go back onto sublingual buprenorphine and was refused and told I was only able to swap to methadone. But as buprenorphine is a blocker this wouldn’ t work, which they also knew, being prescribers. It leaves a lot of people running around using medications that they’ re not sure of and at risk of viral infections. Name and prison supplied
DDN welcomes all your comments. Please email the editor, claire @ cjwellings. com, join conversations on our Facebook page and LinkedIn, or send letters to DDN, CJ Wellings Ltd, Romney House, School Road, Ashford, Kent TN27 0LT. Longer comments and letters may be edited for space or clarity.
/ ddnmagazine @ ddnmagazine www. drinkanddrugsnews. com
16 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • FEBRUARY 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM