CLINIC TAKES NEXT STEP AGAINST DRUGS

AT THE age of 15, Rosco Woods started using drugs. At 24 he tried heroin.

More than 20 years later, he has finally kicked the habit.

The Sydney-born social worker was one of the guest speakers at yesterday's
launch of the new $1.5 million Next Step drug and alcohol treatment clinic
in East Perth.

The facility brings all the Next Step services under one roof for the first
time in its 26 years of operation.

The new clinic will offer a range of treatments for people with alcohol,
tobacco or drug problems and also provides counselling and accommodation for
people in detoxification programs. Mr Woods, a daily visitor to the clinic,
said he had spent two decades running from his addiction before finally
settling in Perth.

"I have done heaps of travelling, running from place to place and I came
here about three years ago for another 'new' beginning," Mr Woods told The
West Australian . "But when I got here I got straight back into drugs and I
knew I needed to change the cycle."

Mr Woods said he spent time at Graylands to detoxify and then entered Next
Step's methadone maintenance program.

Each day he visits the clinic for a dose of methadone and spends some time
in individual counselling.

"The one-on-one time that I get here is probably more important to me than
picking up the methadone each day," he said. "It gives me the strength to
achieve stuff and it takes the emphasis away from getting heroin."

His success on the program is evident.

For the first time in nearly 10 years he is working full time - as an
outreach peer educator helping young people on the street.

Mr Woods has also been asked to write a chapter for a university textbook
about his life as an addict.

"I absolutely love my job, because I feel like I am giving something back,"
he said.

"And I am probably more proud about being asked to write the chapter than of
anything else in my life."