I'm a 53 yr old single man with no dependants (bar my 2 cats) on Invalids Benefit,not just because of my physical disabilities,but also because of my drug addiction problem,that has spanned the last 40 years of my life.
In 2003 I was diagnosed as having chronic hepatitus c type 1a and that if I went on the treatment (which apparently makes you sick to get well) that there was only a 26% chance of recovery,but that I could expect maybe10-15 years good quality life left.However that didn't take into account that I had not been well for a number of years prior to then,and despite the fact that tests were done,it took all those years to finally figure out what I've got.
What hasn't been confirmed is how I got it.I'd tried shooting up in the early 70's,I had homemade tattoos and I'd had (what is today called) unsafe sex.
However it's quite possible I got it from my mother,who'd had several blood transfusions in the years prior to screening,because both my younger brother and my older brother have it,us being the last 3 born,each of us 3 years apart,but which can't be proved,simply because of the ACC.
My mum was diagnosed with an illness when she was in her 20's and had been put on valium,prostigmine and librium and which she was dependent on,to the extent that when she decided she wanted a drivers licence (she was in her early 40's I think),she stopped taking them,but didn't know that she was in withdrawal,because she never knew she was addicted and she spent the rest of her life trying to get a good nights sleep.As it was my mothers blood and my mother carried me,it's likely that I was born with an addictive personality,all it took was my picking up.
I'm fairly certain today,that the reason for my alcoholism,is because mum used to get tiddly on a glass of shandy that was more lemonade than beer and she because had such a low tolerance,is why I have such a low tolerance.
Over the last 40 years I've (apparently) clocked up 25 drug convictions,mostly for possession of class c,with a few class b's,all marijuana related for my own use.In the last 15 years I've had only 2 court appearances 1 for possession 6 years ago in Tamarunui 2004,the other in Invercargill also for possession in 2003.Because I have drug convictions,altho they have to give me a passport doesn't mean I've ever been able to go anywhere and it's unlikely I'll ever get a job,eh!

I've stayed off the booze now for the last 15 years and stopped smoking cigarettes 9 years ago.I've been accident prone most of my life and in the last 15 years have been in 8 motor accidents involving 2 wheels where I've sustained injuries,3 times breaking my right leg below the knee,which has 3 plates that hold it together and is quite a lot shorter,but I can't complain,because at least I've still got it,eh!A fella I knew in Wangavegas had his removed,who like myself gets an Indepence Allowance from the ACC,but which only amounts to about $60 more than I get each year.Whoop-de!

I moved back to Invercargill in 2007 after my mother had died leaving me a bit of money.I told my doctor that  I realised I'd left a few issues behind in Invercargill and it was my intention to stop running away and go back to sort it out.
Unfortunately altho I've had changes in my life,over my 7 years absence,for these people down here,it's like I've only been away since yesterday,they still live in the same grotty old house that's falling down around their ears,living the same grotty lifestyle,drinking in the same spot at the same pub with all the same people,where they'll puff out their chest to tell you how proud they are to be called 'a local'.Some are in the same job doing the same thing for the last 20 years since they left school and will probably have to wait another 20 years for the 1 manager to retire before they can hope to be anything better,and often with their schoolmates who have always lived just down the road.Stuff all of them have ever been across Cook Strait and there are still some that have never been further north than Gore in the whole of their lives.I know Wellingtonians who think 'they're all supposed to be a bit backward down there anyway'.

Hey yeah,well,what's new,eh?Well just last month I got busted again for possession class c,class b and 3 cuttings I had growing in a grow tent,the biggest only 10.5cms and a film container that apparently had 733 seeds in it.I felt a bit disappointed because the fella who gave them to me reckoned there was 1000.
The thing here is that over the last 25 years,I've committed no other crime other than smoke pot,and 3 or for traffic and parking fines,nor have I ever had a collection agency after me.I've lived all over this country and the only place that the cops have ever come round to my house is in Invercargill.

Anyway having hep c I'm now loathe to keep paying my doctor for more poisons that my diseased liver has to get rid of,when just a couple of cones takes all the misery away.