A mum who estimates to have spent over £370,000 on drugs – with her addiction leaving her feeling like a “ghost”– has shared how she turned her life around.
When Ashlee Coffin took her prescribed painkillers after surgery, she had no idea of the nightmare to come.
The mum, who was recovering from emergency surgery due to an ectopic pregnancy – which tragically led to the loss of one of her fallopian tubes – soon became a “ghost” of herself.
When the 30-year-old’s prescription ran out, she turned to the streets to find a fix – including trying to score drugs at dive bars by using her looks.
“I felt like a ghost,” Ashlee, who has two children, ages 10 and seven. Told Need To Know.
“I was in this skeleton frame of this thing that didn’t exist.
“Where I really got caught up [in drugs] was [when] I had an ectopic pregnancy.
“I would sit with my thoughts, wondering whether I would ever be able to have kids again.
“I had also lost my job.
“I was discharged and given pain meds to help with the pain, and it just spiralled from there.”
Prior to this point, Ashlee had dabbled in party drugs recreationally.
But her addiction to fentanyl and opioids, as well as cocaine, was miles away from her previous experiences.
She said: “It’s hard to exactly describe what I felt – I felt everything but nothing at once.
“I felt so empty.
“My drugs of choice were cocaine and fentanyl.
“If I could, I would take cocaine on a daily basis.
“I had periods with heroin.
“It was like my substances took turns.
“I’ve easily spent $500,000 (£373,000) on drugs – it’s a mix of what I got for free, what doctors were able to give me, covered through insurance, and paid out of pocket.”
At her worst, Ashlee – from Connecticut, US – was using up to 3.5 grams of cocaine a day.
But her addiction, which started after her surgery in April 2020, cost the mum more than just money.
She lost jobs, relationships and eventually, custody of her two young children.
There were times she turned to sex work to survive, selling explicit pictures online and drinking every day just to cope.
Ashlee knew she had hit rock bottom.
She reached out to Child Protection Services on 29 October 2022, admitting she was struggling and needed support to turn her life around.
She began attending substance abuse classes, undergoing regular drug testing and started seeing a counsellor.
Now three years sober, Ashlee is back with her children.
The mum, who works full-time in the legal cannabis industry as a lead sales and marketing coordinator. Added: “My mum told me I needed to change people, places and things.
“I moved away from home and cut off a lot of people I used to party with.
“Choosing myself first was really the best thing I could have done for myself.
“I’ve been to hell and back, but I’m living proof you can turn it around if you really want to.”
