By Tom Hartley and Richard Mockler
ABC online, posted Thursday 31 October 2024
Years of drug misuse are written all over Sharmain’s face.
So much so that she is self-conscious about her smile.
“I do get judged with my mouth, just straight up looked at like another druggo,” she told 7.30.
The 29-year-old mother is two months into her treatment program.
The average wait to enter rehab in regional NSW is three months but Sharmain had to wait eight months to get in, during a harrowing time where she spiralled chasing voices that weren’t there.
On any given day in NSW 1,800 people are waiting to get into NGO-support services, namely detox and rehab clinics.
That number doesn’t account for the people waiting to get into public-run facilities, so the true number is estimated to be much higher.
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