About Me
I am a speaker, writer, and advocate offering a compassionate, honest, and reality-based perspective on addiction.
For more than 30 years, problematic substance use has been a part of my life, including long term dependence on heroin and methamphetamine, a decade of abstinence and a return to use. I have experienced homelessness, incarceration, repeated treatment attempts, and the inner struggle of shame, guilt, and despair — the full catastrophe, to quote Zorba the Greek.
These experiences have shown me, again and again, that addiction is not a moral failing to be punished but a complex biopsychosocial, political, and economic issue that defies black-and-white thinking.
Any effective response must recognise the human experiences behind the data as well as the systemic forces that constrain individual choice. Above all, it must be grounded in compassion for our shared humanity and an acknowledgment that it harms us all.
For too long, the story of addiction has been told about people who use drugs, not by them. Media, politicians, and institutions have relied on fear, stereotypes, and misinformation to shape public opinion, while people with lived experience remain silent — often too afraid of the consequences of speaking openly.
This silence has to end.
My contribution is to speak openly — about the good, the bad, and the ugly — to advance the narrative on addiction beyond stigma and myth, toward honesty, accuracy, and compassion. In every setting, I invite the difficult questions people are usually too afraid or embarrassed to ask.
By confronting such questions I aim to strip away the comfortable fictions that keep stigma alive and to acknowledge both the damage of addiction and the resilience of those who endure it.
Writing & speaking
Megan is working on her first articles for this site — including personal essays and talks like her recent speech at Parliament House. Read an example article .