There was a bed, a white sheet, a doctor and no medical equipment! I survived two days before being transferred back to Thailand. I had two botched operations in a Bangkok prison in ‘08 which caused a lot of damage. Definitely an experience I wouldn’t like to repeat!!
Tony: Can you describe the effects of Meth Amphetamine?
Billy: Meth amphetamine is a little bit like crack cocaine that had an intense rush for 12 hours. You feel as though your body is totally detached. It amplified all my awareness and my feelings. I became angry and also felt I was like superman. I believed I was brilliant in bed! I was the best dancer! Everyone liked me and I couldn’t stop what I was doing; it kept me alert for a long time.
Tony: Has it got a bad come down?
Billy: Yes the come down was depression, irritability and anger. I craved more, obviously, I was obsessed with it; it was isolating. I didn’t want to communicate with anyone. I didn’t sleep. My appetite was gone. I looked like an anorexic panda and within 6 months of being on this drug I could hand glide of a Dorito I’d lost that much weight!
Tony: How much did it cost you over there?
Billy: 200 Bart which is about £2.80 for one tablet; the effects of each tablet lasted about 8- 12 hours.
Tony: Did writing your captivating book change your life financially?
Billy: No, it’s just freed me from the torment and anguish I was feeling, it was cathartic. I showed it to someone who got really excited after reading a few chapters and she said ‘you have to get this published; it’s amazing and will benefit other addicts’. I could never write a letter unless it was coming from a prison cell begging members of my family for money to support my drug habit. I acquired academic skills and taught English in foreign schools. I discovered I was creative wrote my book ‘A Prayer before Dawn’.
Tony: Are they looking to further the book in any other way?
Billy: Well the book has been out since March 2012 and I’ve just recently had an interview with two producers and a screen writer and they’re looking forward to making a film along the lines of midnight express. It’s pretty exciting stuff. Things are finally changing. My life has absolutely turned around since I’ve come back into recovery.
Tony: So it’s more of a spiritual benefit that you have received?
Billy: Yes I like it when people come up to me and say that book has really helped me because what I have been through may benefit others and give them hope. I feel really ashamed when people ask me why I did all the stuff I did. But I felt like I had no choice to do what I did and get through what I got through. I was a Scouser that lived on a council estate, brought up on beans on toast, played in burnt out cars, took a lot of drugs, did robberies and crime, and found myself in a prison in Thailand. I believe that being from Liverpool hardened me to all that stuff. It allowed me to survive. I’m not different from anyone else really.
Tony: Can you give me a quote or something you want to add to this interview that other people can take from it?
Billy: I heard someone say once that there was a silent bomb dropped on Liverpool in the 80’s but no one heard the bangs. It took sons, limbs, daughters, brothers, sisters…it was called heroin - an epidemic which was really sad. In a way it’s Crystal Meth that’s the bomb in South East Asia and I’d hate to see it explode in the UK. Because for me I liked it and I’d do anything to get it. The crimes I’d commit for that drug would be horrendous, I’d hate to see this sort of addiction spread to England.
Tony: So is this the worst drug you’ve ever taken before?
Billy: I’d say Crystal Meth was like Satan himself!
Tony: And for anyone thinking of taking this drug for the first time what would you say to them?
Billy: DON’T…..because if you do you’ll feel like your life is over. Not everyone is a lucky as me; some don’t make it back alive.
Billy was a Stuntman on Rocky 4
Billy's Journey Story
A Prayer Before Dawn by Billy Moore
Bamboo Sinfonia 2011
£17.95