I got hooked on drugs aged 10..I changed my life and now I want to help others to stay clean

A FATHER who was just 10 years old when he became hooked on drugs is now unrecognisable after transforming his life.

- BY LIAM MCINERNEY

John Foskett, 31, revealed on social media he is 11 years clean and reposted a startling before and after picture showing just how much he has changed.

He said: "What really catches me is my eyes. When I look at the picture before I stopped taking drugs, to this day, I can still feel the pain that I was trying to numb with drugs. That is gone today.

"I got clean for myself because, to be honest, my drug taking got so bad, and my mental health was so bad, it was just so hard to keep going that when I finally got a taste of recovery, it was easier to recover than to continue taking drugs.

"But it was the people I met along the way, and the people I have now, so when I look at those pictures, I couldn't ever imagine myself going back.

"But at the same time, I can understand the person who is in the first picture. He was hurt, he was angry and he was in a lot of pain. And that person is gone now. And happily so."

Cork native John started sniffing solvents and petrol as a little boy before this led to alcohol and hard drugs.