Diary of a Secret Drug Addict: Addiction, dependence and recovery. An ex-user’s guide to breaking free.

by Secret Drug Addict

Genres: Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published March 19, 2026

Reviews

[Lina]

Can't rate because it's not published! (a goodreads restriction)

3.5 ⭐️

But I listened to this as an audiobook and it was really great. The narrator was fantastic, he had the perfect voice and the conversational style of writing worked excellently as an audiobook. All the jokes just flowed great.

This was a really interesting book and quite hard to describe. It was part memoir, part advice column, part political musings. I loved the author's colloquial style, it made the the topic a lot easier to read and really humanised addiction by emphasising how it is a disease and not a choice. Rather than continuing to see people suffering from addictions as crackheads or junkies who have 'chosen' this 'life-style' it put the emphasis on our failing healthcare systems, the detrimental effects of capitalism and the darker days that we live in. It was really rewarding to hear from a recovered addict and to understand his motivations and how he now helps others.

Deffinitely not an everyday read, but incredibly thought provoking and insightful.

[Michał · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Nic kompletnie nie wyniosłem z tej książki, nie była bardzo wartościowa jak dla mnie. Może temat uzależnień jest dla mnie zbyt odległy żebym mógł zrozumieć treść.
Słuchałem audiobooka, niestety lektor nie był najlepszy.
Myślałem że nie dotrwam do końca, żeby słuchać ostatnie dwie godziny musiałem się bardzo zmuszać.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is part memoir, part self-help, and part social commentary. The self-help stuff was irrelevant to me; I was just curious about how people fall into and out of addiction. The "Diary" in the title is all that drew me in.

It was interesting, and the author's honest self-appraisal was refreshing. So many people self-aggrandize (or idolize those who do) that it's rare to see truly humble self-reflection. The social commentary was also insightful. As the author illustrates, framing addition as a family problem that is solely on families to solve is misguided. Addiction is as much a social problem as it is an individual one. Having adequate support services could prevent so many people from becoming addicted in the first place, and yet—as societies—we just don't.

[Georgi_Lvs_Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addiction doesn’t show up at the door looking like a villain. It doesn’t announce itself with a cape and an evil laugh. No, it sidles up with a grin and says, ‘Fancy an escape? A shortcut to belonging? A good time?’ And before you know it, you’re hooked, and what once felt like a friend becomes the parasite that strips you bare.

I read this book for personal reasons and for research. It was a difficult read, but necessary.

Highly recommend if you or someone you know is suffering with addiction.