Charles Lane ‘I want to help others with their addiction and repay society’

It started at age 12 with diazepam, given to him by a friend who had dipped into his mother’s prescription tablets. Unfortunately for Charles Lane, what started out as an innocent enough act set him on a path towards drug addiction — cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin — and ultimately prison.

To feed his habit, he began buying drugs in chemists and on the streets, conning doctors for prescriptions and stealing drugs from friends’ parents.

“I was a sneak thief. I burgled houses and shops and robbed innocent people,” said Charles.