Meth addict mum who splashed £357k on medication and booze from age 11 reveals transformation
This mum-of-three has bravely told her story of meth addiction and getting clean after she first got hooked on alcohol 11 – and how she finally got her kids back
A mum revealed how she squandered £375,000 on drugs and alcohol after finally getting clean from a lengthy battle with addiction.
Ashley Melendez’s struggle with addiction started in childhood, before it ultimately consumed her entire existence.
She began drinking as a coping mechanism for a troubled upbringing and would lose consciousness from alcohol at weekends when she was just 11 years old.
Over time, her dependency spiralled completely out of control. Ashley was downing three bottles of whisky daily and splashing out roughly £750 weekly on booze.
However, it was her devastating addiction to meth that nearly cost her life – emptying her bank balance, wrecking her relationships and reducing her to a shadow of her former self.
During her darkest period, the 31 year old lost custody of her three children, her house, employment and identity.
“I can see I was an addict from the start,” she told NeedToKnow. “But I just thought I was a kid who did party drugs and drank too much. I needed help.
“Since then, I’ve easily spent half a million dollars on drugs.
“I’ve made so much money in my life, and I have nothing to show for it. I could have a home and a car, and all the bells and whistles.
“We’re told not to say we threw our life away, but I gave it away to drugs.”
Ashley’s weekend drinking rapidly escalated after she began an on-and-off relationship with a man, where alcohol became a permanent fixture in the couple’s daily routine.
Whilst he eventually outgrew it, she didn’t – embarking on binges every day after completing her shift at Starbucks. Ashley, originally from Hawaii but residing in New York, admits she adored the sensation of being intoxicated and the self-assurance it provided her.
She revealed: “I loved alcohol – the taste of it, the escape of it – I loved everything about it. I would work from 4.30 am until 2 pm, and by 3 pm I was drunk.
“I would sit at the bar and get so completely wasted that I needed to be carried out at 10 pm.
“I would nap in my car and wake up and go drinking at the beach with people. I was going to work, still drunk.
“I thought I could do anything as long as I didn’t do meth.”
By the age of 21, Ashley was consuming alcohol every day and taking cocaine whenever she could obtain it.
Outwardly, she seemed to be coping, maintaining employment and bringing up her children – but internally her world was crumbling.
Following multiple separations from her partner, she relocated to Austin, Texas, in 2018, seeking a new beginning.
However, by the following year, circumstances had deteriorated significantly.
Continuous custody battles meant Ashley’s three children had returned to Hawaii.
When the legal proceedings ground to a halt due to Covid restrictions and postponements, she descended into a downward spiral of desperation.
The establishment where she was employed during this period also shut down, causing her to lose her earnings.
Depending on government support, Ashley reached the limit on her credit cards and descended deeper into addiction.
She explained: “I couldn’t go forward with the custody case, and that broke my heart.
“I immediately started drinking three bottles of Jameson a day. I was spending at least $1,000USD (£750) a week on alcohol.
“I was drinking until I couldn’t drink anymore.
“I was as drunk as I could get. Then one night, my partner went out to look for coke and found meth instead.”
After just one hit, Ashley was hooked.
She spent the lockdown in her flat, barely stepping outside except to meet dealers.
Ashley reveals she lost dangerous amounts of weight, started hallucinating, and within months, she was completely dependent on the drug.
She confessed: “I would do 20 days clean, but then get so exhausted with insane brain fog.
“I couldn’t function. For a long time, I was a functioning addict. I was crazy – I was having all these psychic visions.”
“I thought my kids were stuck at the top of a mountain – when I got there, I saw them there. I climbed back down and was like, ‘Did I imagine all of that?’ That started scaring me more.”
This terrifying experience finally led Ashley to seek help and go to rehab, but on her way there, she was arrested.
Caught with drugs in the car, she was charged with a Class A felony and received eight years’ probation.
Over the subsequent years, she attempted to rebuild her life but suffered relapses, until 2022. Struggling with meth-induced delusions, she moved to New York, hoping for a fresh start.
She shared: “I moved to New York to be with my mum; everyone had turned their back on me apart from her.
“I was doing really well with my Narcotics Anonymous meetings – I built up six months of sobriety. I made it a year and relapsed because I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me.
“I started drinking again and was getting belligerently drunk for 10 months straight.”
Ashley once more fell into the destructive cycle of heavy drug and alcohol use.
The decisive turning point arrived earlier this year when her mum threatened to evict her unless she sought help.
On 2 April, Ashley checked into rehab and has now been sober for six months. She’s concentrating on her long-term objectives, which include pursuing a bachelor’s degree in substance abuse counselling, with the hope of using her experience to assist others.
She has also mended her relationship with her children, whom she sees regularly.
Sharing her journey on her TikTok account, Ashley said: “I’m feeling hopeful.
“I’m feeling like, for the first time, I’ve accepted I can’t be in a relationship right now.
“I’ve accepted that was the main reason I would always use it. I’m learning to sit alone with myself and love myself, and I’ve learned how to grow my own personality.
“I feel a lot better. I want to do my recovery step work right this time – I don’t want to rush through it.
“It’s still a struggle, but something flipped in me this time where I’ve been able to be real with myself.
“Now I have my eye on the long-term goal.”
