Never too late for a detour: How Dan walked away from drugs
Written by: Sarah Tan
I was looking at the recent posters from Health Hub Singapore, aiming to encourage Singaporeans to start moving towards our health goals.
One of the posters showed a healthy and cheerful looking father with his daughter, swapping out fast food for a delicious and well balanced home cooked meal. The caption read in bold, “Turn One Day into Day One”.
It is hard to believe that the man playing the father in the poster, Mohamad Riduan Bin Ishak, or better known as Dan amongst his friends, was once a drug addict. He was sent to the rehabilitation centre twice and eventually, sentenced to prison for 6 years with three strokes of the cane.
The Dan I met today is a man thriving in his many roles. He is a devoted husband and a dedicated father. He is a business owner of Tarkiz, an events management company that specialises in corporate team building.
He is fully engaged in volunteer work and his impact on society is substantial. He has contributed to the Yellow Ribbon Community Project, he is a Prison Befriender, a Singapore Anti Narcotics Association Peer leader, a CNB Anti-drug ambassador amongst the many volunteer roles he has taken on.
At Architects of Life, a social enterprise, Dan is serving as an XOFG (X-offenders For Good) community leader. He is also a facilitator for their XO-Accelerator program, a personal development training program for ex-offenders.
Recently, UIPM Academy has granted him the Honorary Doctorate of Community Development and Youth Empowerment with Specialisation in Substance Abuse Prevention.
Indeed, Dan’s story is inspiring, bringing hope and encouragement to anyone who thinks there can be no turning back from the destructive paths they had taken.
Dan grew up in a large family. There was minimal attention given to him in his growing up years. He remembers not returning home for a few nights in his teenage years and nobody went looking for him. The neighbourhood he grew up in was overwhelmed by vices.
At the age of 11, he took his first puff of cigarettes. He dropped out of school when he was 14 years old and a year later, he was already consuming heroin.
Dan was quick to emphasise his personal accountability for his addiction, noting that his siblings grew up well and functional despite living in the same environment. The first time Dan was sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre, he was not actually addicted to drugs.
In fact, he had quit smoking and was a competitive long distance runner while serving his National Service. He was at a party and consumed an illegal drug just for fun when a raid took place.
When he was released, he focused on working but he kept to the same group of friends who abused drugs. This meant that drugs became easily accessible.
“For the sake of old time,”; “Just one time,” were thoughts that ran through his head each time he took a hit.
But it was never just for one time. The nature of Heroin is entrapping, chaining users to its stone hard grip. The final time he was arrested, he was sent to prison with three strokes of the cane.
In prison, he saw people who grew old in prison, he witnessed people who died in prison and he knew of people who had family members pass away while they were imprisoned, unable to see their loved ones for the last time. These observations terrified him.
Another important motivating factor for him to change was how his mother travelled tediously to visit him. It pained his heart to see his mother going through such hardship because of what he had done.
The decision to let go of the past and to start afresh was only the just beginning of the recovery journey. What happened next, unbeknownst to many, was actually a commencement of a
tests-filled path.
Released from prison in 2005, Dan was 31. It dawned on him that he had no achievements in his life.
It sank in that he had thrown his youth away. Realising how much he had lost, he became worried and fearful that he would once again, succumb to the temptation of drugs.
He sought solace and strength from prayers. He made extra efforts to flee from temptation. He shared with me his “detour technique”. What would have been a 2 minute walk from the train station to his home took 20 mins every day because he deliberately took a detour, knowing that he may bump into friends with drugs along the shorter path. He took this detour every day for three years.
While rehabilitation may begin with the individual, Dan highlighted that it also involved the entire family. The family had to be guided and supported as well.
Dan shared a poignant memory of an incident where he was taking longer than usual in the bathroom.
His late mother started banging on the door, accusing him of doing drugs again. It shattered his heart. He opened the door, with tears streaming down his face. Realising that she had wronged her son, Dan’s mother hugged him and apologised, explaining that she was worried.
Dan reminded himself that while he was hurt that one time, he had let his mum down multiple times over the years. There was also resentment from his siblings, who felt bitter towards Dan for causing such heartache for their mother.
These were wounds that needed time and space to heal but these were also factors that could have easily driven a former addict to seek comfort and solace in drugs.
Today, Dan’s heart is filled with gratitude. He has a supportive wife who has stood by him unwaveringly through the tough journey of recovery. His daughter brings joy to him immensely.
His experience has not gone to waste as he has been actively contributing to society, creating a ripple effect of goodness.
Dan still remembers the last time he administered heroin. It was 30 October 2001, 10 pm. Even after 20 over years of sobriety, Dan is not letting his guard down. “Relapse is just lurking around the corner, it is always there,” Dan says.
He told me about a friend who went back to drugs after staying sober for 27 years. Just a small temptation, just an opportunity and just a moment of weakness and everything you have worked for would have gone down the drain.
The battle is ongoing.
The best advice he can offer anyone is to "Never Start!".
info@architectsoflife.sg
