Senator for Tasmania Jacqui Lambie made headlines in 2015 for her speech in parliament about the devastating effect of ice, and the limited options parents have to help children who are affected. She spoke about her son, who was an addict, explaining that she was not able to get an involuntary detox for him despite the drug taking over his life and free will.
Now, she has moved viewers of The Project, telling the emotional story of his journey to recovery, and how they were able to reconnect after the devastating effect his addiction had on their family.
The Project followed their story on holiday in Vietnam, interviewing both Jacqui and her son Dylan, who is now 22.
Dylan opened up about his history of drugs. He discovered marijuana when he was about 12, got into speed when he was 15, and then when he was 17 he started taking ice. Eventually he became addicted to the drug, and it began to take over his life.
“Sometimes I’d be on it for a couple of weeks straight,” he told The Project. “Like I wouldn’t sleep for eight days.”
Jacqui was a single mother, and decided that it was time for Dylan to leave when the drug took over. He became homeless, and slept on the streets. It was at this time that she made her groundbreaking speech about the need for better rehabilitation processes for ice addicts.
While Dylan was unhappy with the media attention around his life, the destruction of his relationships with his family and friends and sleeping rough on the streets finally made him decide to go to rehab.
“Sometimes it takes you to get to that point in your life where you’ve got to go, that’s it, I’m just not doing this anymore,” Jacqui said of the situation. “If that’s what helped him to make the decision to go into rehab, so be it.”
Within eight weeks of rehab, Dylan said it was the cleanest he’d ever been and things started looking up. After 12 months of rehab, he is now totally clean, and he and Jacqui have reconnected.
Though Lambie is divisive on many issues including immigration, many people tweeted their support for her story and her son’s recovery.
At the end of the day, Lambie said, “I think the friendship, and the mother and son bond is much bigger than the drug itself.”
Watch the incredible full story here:
