Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson took part in two events at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on April 3rd.

Andrew Smith and Chris Morgan from the Oxford Gatehouse Drop-in Centre arranged for him to speak to the members of their Book Club, and at 2pm they all met in the Music Room at Christ Church College.  There were twelve people from the Book Club plus a few volunteers.   Each of them had been sent a copy of Wasted to read a few months ago, so they were interested in what he had to say.

Mark was asked about his life and he explained how abuse from his father in his childhood forced him to escape into the streets where he felt safer among gangs of other children from the local housing estate.

He explained how he got drunk on cider at the age of eight, and was sniffing heroin in a squat at the age of eleven. At 17 he was in Portland borstal, where he was sent into isolation in the ‘Block’ following a riot over a sandwich.

One of the book club members nodded his head at this point; he had been there too.

He was now totally dependent on drugs, and ended up in London where he could obtain them in the quantities he needed.  He lost his job as a tree surgeon and for nearly a year he was homeless in London’s West End, sleeping rough in doorways and parks.  He funded his now immense crack / heroin addiction through crime and guile.  He weighed only seven and a half stone, was covered in track marks, his socks welded by his blood to his blisters, when someone he knew noticed him sleeping in a doorway.

This friend was now working for the charity Turning Point, and he persuaded Mark into detox.  Although this didn’t work at first – he was back on the streets after attacking someone – he eventually got to a primary treatment centre in Bognor Regis.

Mark told the group he stopped taking drugs on 21 July 2000… and to this day has not touched them again.

He was asked questions about his time inside the borstal, and whether he would be become an addict again if he tried drugs or alcohol.  He replied that  addiction was an illness and he would definitely be totally dependent on them again if he started.  One of the men said that he had stopped using for four weeks, and that listening to Mark was an inspiration to him to keep off the drugs. 

Mark Johnson is undoubtedly an inspiration to anyone who has ever fallen into the pit of addiction as he shows that it is possible to stop using drugs and start a new life.

After this session, they all moved to the Literary Café where the conversation with  the homeless book club members and volunteers continued over tea and cakes before Mark went into his second event; a discussion with Marcus Moore.

Chris Morgan also interviewed Simon of the Book Club group for the website www.homeless.me.uk:

“When I got to the end of the book it gave me hope.  He goes very low, it’s very harrowing and especially if you are on those drugs.  You think, God, I’m never gonna get out of this…I’d recommend this book to anyone, drug user or non drug user.  I want my girlfriend to read it, so she knows what to expect.  So it goes low but it shows there is hope, and you can get out of the addiction.  Even though I can explain it to her, reading that book gives it a useful perspective,

Wasted is a really good book, really helpful, really accurate.  I’m looking forward to meeting the author.”