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This episode of Brewed in Bangkok is different. It’s the most sinister conversation I had for this podcast. It’s a glimpse into a darker world. It’s the youngest drug counselor of the UK, telling his own story of addiction and where it ultimately lead him. I recommend listening to this episode on headphones (or make sure there are no minors around). A good part of it is anything but family-friendly.
Show Notes
- What happens when you take a year off in elementary school (1:15)
- Thoughts on stealing alcohol at age seven (8:10)
- Raising GBP 250,000 to build a skate park (11:05)
- Experiencing a drug-fueled meltdown and getting rescued by an ex-junkie (22:22)
- Teaching junkies how to shoot up and helping people quit (24:12)
- Becoming the youngest drug counselor to work for the UK government (26:46)
- Walking into an unexpected foursome (31:02)
- The HIV-test doctor encounter you don’t want to live through (but still want to hear about) (32:40)
- Dangers of partying in Bangkok and getting held up at gun point (33:30)
- Working as a private detective (36:10)
- Escaping your own apartment by climbing down the balcony using cut-up bed linen (40:00)
- The turn-around: Studying and researching in Thailand (43:30)
Memorable Quotes
- I did my own thing, which included taking a year off in 4th grade (1:15)
- I really would have liked Steve’s mom and dad and Toby’s mom and dad to sit down with my mom and dad and teach them how to be a mom and dad (4:30)
- This is so bad: I stole the hat off a girl who had leukemia. Looking back, that’s appalling. If someone had done that to my sister, I would have killed the son of a bitch. (5:15)
- I wanted attention of some kind. And bad attention was better than no attention (5:30)
- What I call ‘drinking’ is when you put that glass to your mouth, you feel it go in, and it’s like a liquid orgasm going down your body. I was in my mid-teens when I first got that feeling (7:40)
- We started with an empty shell of a factory. We raised GBP 250,000 from the government, from charities, from various organizations to build a skate park. When we opened it, it was packed – absolutely packed. We even saw crime go down as a result of it. (11:05)
- A wreckhead doesn’t require any specific substance. He just needs something that fucks with the central nervous system so much that 24 hours disappear (16:20)
- I bought one Big Mac meal a day, and everything else went to ‘gear’ (17:45).
Want More?
Check out the complete collection of Brewed in Bangkok episodes.
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My name is Karsten and I’m a 30-something pro-gamer turned tech entrepreneur. I’m the youngest of three sons to a British mom and a German dad who met while working in Canada. As management trainee at Lufthansa German Airlines I worked in India, Dubai, Austria and Germany.
