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Deliverance

‘I’m only comfortable when I’m drunk’

“I was living a life of lies to compensate for my inadequacies, and because of this my self-confidence was really low. I only felt confident when I was drunk or taking drugs –mainly cocaine and ecstasy or both.

Taking weed took a toll on me and changed me for the worse

I was a 14-year-old boy bound by the chains of the streets. I was continuously involved in robberies and street crime to quench the thirst I had for money. I would beat up random men and women on the street and would even target elderly people. I started smoking weed and it began to affect my health and my mind. As a result I would have violent out-breaks at home without any recollection of it.

Life after a death

A family tragedy at nine years old changed Natascha Sturm’s life forever. Here she tells her story in an exclusive interview with the City News:

From hopeless to hopeful!

From a very young age, my life was destined for the worst. I was addicted to drugs and alcohol and my life was spiralling out of control. The addictions that I was suffering from caused all sorts of problems to the point of affecting my family and tearing us apart.

Alcohol was my daily sleeping pill for 15 years

My life was practically in the gutter. I was going through many problems at home; my house was a place of constant arguments. I felt drowned, depressed and suicidal. I had a life-consuming addiction to cannabis, where I would smoke ninety pounds worth of it every week. I was also a very heavy drinker — to the point of mixing strong beers with brandy just to get to sleep —, and faced terrible relationship issues.

The party girl with a taste for blood

She was the overweight party girl with the dark demeanour, argumentative attitude and punky personality. But beneath the tough-nut exterior was a depressed and lonely lady, one who was all smiles to her family but didn’t show them the truth.