Supplies , however , has an active policy to employ those whose life has been impacted by drink and drugs – which mine most definitely was .
My first real job opportunity felt like a battle against the system – but then something changed for me , says Stuart Lloyd
A FAIR EXCHANGE
‘ S ame shit , different decade ’, was what the badge on my blazer bemoaned the day I was asked to pen this piece . How appropriate , but then again , how untrue . I had worked at Exchange Supplies for ten years and have now been living a different life – several different lives , since I left the fold almost exactly a decade ago .
Exchange Supplies is a social enterprise ( their words ), meaning ( in the government ’ s words ) ‘ a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community , rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners .’ They are also harm reduction innovators extraordinaire ( my words ).
In practice , what I saw on the
‘ coalface ’ was top-quality and innovative harm minimisation products and educational information being developed , produced and marketed . Often left-field , sometimes contentious and regularly ahead of the curve of what was legally acceptable – net result , saving lives and reducing the spread of bloodborne viruses .
It ’ s often difficult to measure community benefit beyond individual stories . Exchange
SMART , PASSIONATE , HOPELESS I was smart , passionate , political – and a hopeless junkie . At the time I still had pipe-dream fantasies ( literally ) of taking a master ’ s degree in a drugrelated subject . Seeing a job advert for a harm minimisation company pinned to the notice board in my local drug agency seemed ideal .
I was back living with my parents and my dad was all over me to pull my weight and get work , so I was signed on with a job agency . Despite being a long-term dedicated vegan , I had accepted work at a meat packing plant ( I ’ m not squeamish ). After being told I would only be expected to haul boxes , within an hour of arrival – due to the omnipresent moral panic of ‘ mad cow disease ’ – I was removing spinal fluid from back bones and getting sprayed in the face with blood , marrow and nerve fibres . Needless to say , I leapt at the chance of working in an offal-free environment .
On my first day of employment with Exchange Supplies I was in my element . I had scored my necessary morning fix the night before – and incredibly had resisted ‘ doing it in ’ that evening . For clarification , in 2004 when Exchange Supplies first employed me , I was a heroin addict and burgeoning alcoholic . Just for the record , when I left
14 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • SEPTEMBER 2024 WWW . DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS . COM