A former London banker whose cocaine addiction cost him his job and nearly destroyed his marriage has created Britain’s first TV channel to help addicts and their families.
LONDON: A former London banker whose cocaine addiction cost him his high-flying job and nearly destroyed his marriage has created Britain’s first television channel to help addicts and their families.
Dan Butcher, 34, developed an addiction that left him suicidal while running a foreign exchange trading desk at a firm in London’s financial district known as the “City”. “If I didn’t have a wife and children I would have killed myself,” he said. “If they weren’t around, I wouldn’t be here.”
At his lowest point, he was taking up to £300 worth of cocaine a day and was arrested for possession after visiting his dealer. He hit rock bottom in October last year when his wife Helen threatened to leave with their children, a boy and a girl aged six and three.
With his family’s support, he checked into the Priory, a London rehabilitation clinic known for its celebrity clients, where, at a cost of £18,000, he slept for a month in a single bedroom with no lock.
During his time in rehab, he examined his problems and the plight of his alcoholic brother and was struck by the idea of giving addicts and their loved ones support in their own homes.
With the help of private investors, he decided to set up a website and TV channel called The Recovery Network aimed at addicts, those in recovery and their families.
Trained counsellors and therapists will offer help and advice on TV, while Internet users will swap stories in chat rooms and download information from the site. The website went live this week, while the TV channel will begin broadcasting from early 2008.
One in three people in Britain is touched by addiction, from drugs and alcohol to sex and gambling, he says.
His successful job, with an annual six-figure salary, offered no protection. He says that drug abuse blights all professions and people from all walks of life. “Addiction doesn’t care if you’re old, young, rich, poor. It doesn’t have any social barriers,” he said.
He now hopes to use his experiences to help others through The Recovery Network.”It has turned something disastrous into something that could potentially help other people,” he said.
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