Legal Highs: A Chester Culture.

Published on by Dan Schott

My name is Daniel Schott and I used to be addicted to legal highs.
I suppose I’m taking a risk here.
The idea is when you’re trying to raise your profile in the public eye that you’re supposed to keep closeted, keep your personal shannaghans nice and quiet?
I disagree.
I don’t give a fuck if I lose followers on my numerous mediums.
It matters very little to me.
So how does a reasonably intelligent guy gets sucked into this hell hole you may ask yourself?
Don’t kid yourselves living in your lovely Hoole townhouse with your amazing family that you can’t be tempted.

I’m from middle class Tarvin and could buy and sell your family in an instant. …What are your kids up to?
And why am I writing this now?
I’m really scared.
I’m watching people I genuinely care about sink into this.
Restaurant Managers, Pub landlords, Musicians, Teachers.
It doesn’t discriminate.
I started work when I arrived back in Chester as a Supervisor in Bella Italia in 2007.
As you can imagine I was always the ringleader in getting some cannabis in during the shift. ‘Something to make the boring hours easier’ as it was.
Sometimes we couldn’t get anything to take away the mental strain of dealing with Americans so it was suggested by someone I can barely remember that Dr Hermanns upstairs sold some ‘fake weed’ and was quite good.
Quite good or fucking superb?
It was called ‘Spice’ and it was THE most amazing feeling in the world. Your best acid trip X1000 without the heebee geebies.

download (1)
So as you can imagine, we started sucking it up like there was no tomorrow.
Quite quickly, the powers that be soon realised and it got banned.
So that was that story.
Cheers for reading.
But.
There’s more.
Schott went about his relatively harmless cannabis habit for a couple of years more. (And still does) until I happened to walk into Dr Hermanns one day (out of weed) looking for something to smoke.

download (2)
I was recommended ‘Magic Dragon’ or ‘Doob’. It cost £10 a gram, so I took it home.
Before we go any further, lets get something absolutely straight.
Legal highs cost me my flat. I didn’t care about such trivialities as paying rent or paying my bills.

I ended up homeless.
Legal highs cost me my cheffing career. I’ve never recovered from this. I don’t have the mental function anymore.
Even now.
You have to be ‘on your game’. I’m not like that anymore.
Something changed fundamentally.
Legal highs cost me my relationship. I had no sex life. I could barely keep an erection. I didn’t care about anything.
Legal highs come first, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
I first started smoking legals because I naively believed them to be ‘legal’ and not as bad as cannabis.
I was fucking wrong.
I started off on one £10 bag which lasted a couple of days.
It was great. Blissy feelings..psychedelics..fluffiness. Fantastic.
But it’s a clever drug. It isn’t happy with that profit margin, so they make it REALLY addictive.
You will NEVER get that first feeling back. That first rush.
And so as you get used to the buzz, the price goes up.
But that’s okay isn’t it because 3 grams only cost £20? Wow. I’ve gained a gram.
Happy days! …Until that doesn’t feed it either?
But that’s okay. Because Hermanns will do you 3 x 3g for £50. Brilliant.
Well not really. You’re still chasing that initial buzz and it’s getting addictive and it’s now £50 a day.
FIFTY POUND A DAY.
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUND A WEEK.
So a two year habit cost me by hook or by crook the best part of £20k+
Wow. You’d better stop right?
Good luck.
These are as strong as Class A’s.
Not smoking legals gives you heart. boner and mental issues. Sounds bad right?
That’s not even half of it.
This shop is open 7 days a week from 10am until 5:30pm.
You can pick it up. You can pay by switch.
BUT all the time you’re not smoking it, you’re aware the shop is open for business.
If you try to stop, you’re climbing the walls by 5:28pm.
If you can’t score weed, you can’t get any. Simple.
If it’s ‘cheque or switch’ in a daily business, it’s harder.
I’d love to tell you my blog, Schott’s List saved my life but it didn’t.
I was hammered for the first 18 months of it’s inception and barely remember a day.
I’d also like to tell you that I’ve been clean ever since but I haven’t.
I nearly died three months ago. during a relapse.
A drunken episode where I let my guard down.
My lungs are also a mess now but I still, now & again, gasp for the beautiful feeling.
I remain, a legal high addict. But I keep going.
I am one of the strongest people you’ll ever know.
This is your warning Chester.
What saved me?
Me and I don’t know how.
Maybe the feeling I’m not done yet with this world.
I shouldn’t be here.
Be safe Chester and don’t look down on me.

Rest assured, I’m better than you 😉

Your Servant.

Dan Schott.
(If you have an issue with Legal Highs  please get in touch. I’m here. )

9 thoughts on “Legal Highs: A Chester Culture.”

  2. Wow! I’m not sure if Daniel is expecting any kind of sympathy here, not that I don’t judge people taking any drugs – what they do to their mind and body is up to them and none of my business…and for the record, I also worked at Bella Pasta (before it became Italia) in 2003 and chefs there were always snorting cocaine and drinking beer on shift. so you’re not the first.

    I just turned a blind eye to the whole situation and couldn’t wait to get out before I was sucked into that world.

    Like

    Reply

  3. I fail to see how this reflects on the culture of Chester and I am going to have to unfollow Chester Culture both on Twitter and Facebook for allowing this posting. Like many other people, I don’t wish to know about Daniel’s past in reference to his drug-taking habits – if it was used for a certain type of medical condition, then I would understand fully, but as this is purely self-inflicted I’m certainly not interested.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Why have you got such an issue with Dan? You have misinterpreted this blog entirely. Addiction is a very hard thing to overcome. He has raised awareness of the dangers of legal highs, while remaining brutally honest. Let’s not shy away from the fact drugs happen everywhere (yes, even in sleep Chester) and addiction is an illness into itself. Please re-read again and have this in mind. Thanks, Beth.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Beth, I haven’t misinterpreted this blog at all – I fail to see how he has highlighted the dangers of legal high, in fact, if anything he comes across as ‘glorifying’ the use of drugs and I can’t even began to fathom as to why Chester Culture have posted his blog – have legal high drugs really become part of our theatre, music, art, cinema scene too in Chester? I realise that there are artists who do indulge in drug use in order to ‘expand their mind’ in terms of creativity, but does Chester Culture really want to advertise the kind of drugs being used on behalf of that artist?

        Like

      4. But you do mention ‘Schott’s List’ in your blog, so in a sense it does partly belong in there. At the end of the day, it was self inflicted and not used for medicinal purposes, in which you would of had my full support. You did have a choice in this matter, a choice that proved fatal and nearly cost you your life, where other bed-ridden people would of potentially used these legal highs in order to calm the pain that they are suffering or used it as a form of escape from the pain – euthanasia has always been a good subject matter within the news recently.

        I live in the city and I’m certainly not blind, I see these people on legal highs in terms of drugs and drink, but I don’t regard it as a ‘cultural’ issue as this is pretty common as anyone can take drugs, and as you clearly demonstrated, you lose your friends, you alienate others and you go down a very lonely path in terms of self-destruction. Where’s the culture in that?

        Like

Leave a comment