Brenda Dennehy

And that word junkie is just horrific.

It's just, there's like, there's a lot of, maybe I don't want to give the equivalent of what word, it might be offensive to other people, but you can get my drift.

Very offensive.

And I posted it like as in this guy, you know, as in like be more, you know, compassionate.

You know, these people are, you know, addicts and they're fighting for their life.

So I took great offence.

And I think then regarding Jason, did someone call him a druggie?

And I posted it again.

And in fairness, and as you introed me in the podcast saying about me sharing other people's perspective, the people on the other side of addiction, this woman got in touch with me and she asked me to read this email in response to that, which I'm very glad to do so.

Again, I asked her on the podcast.

She didn't want to come on because safety.

She fears for her safety because she has ended up being savagely beaten over addiction.

So I'm going to get to that email now because she's asked me to read it.

I'm going to read it.

slowly i just don't want to mess it up or anything like that so this is we'll give her the name i'll just give her the name r hi brenda thank you for being so open to hearing this perspective i don't take that lightly i'm writing as someone who lived for over a decade with an addict i had two children with him he was a gambling addict an alcoholic and a domestic abuser

I am a survivor of that relationship and the impact of it is something I still live with every day.

When people talk about addiction in abstract or purely compassionate terms, I often feel the reality for those living alongside it is erased.

From my lived experience, addiction did not remove this person's understanding of right and wrong, and it did not prevent extreme deliberate harm.

I was savagely beaten over 100 euros so he could go gambling.

I had black eyes.