Latest news with #cocaineaddiction
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Yahoo
'Astronomical' cocaine use and debt lands man in jail
A man who got caught up with an international drug syndicate was trying to clear a $15,000 debt he amassed by consuming an "astronomical" amount of cocaine, a court has been told. Connor McFarlane was arrested in April 2024 after being caught red-handed while trying to collect a shipment of about 25kg of ketamine which had been smuggled into Australia. The 23-year-old drove a rental car to the Sydney location provided by an acquaintance to collect the drugs, estimated to have a street value of $7.35 million. McFarlane didn't know what kind of drug he was collecting or that it was a commercial quantity, Judge Graham Turnbull said while sentencing him to a maximum of four years in jail. Penrith District Court was told the drugs had been stashed inside three cars, but were detected by authorities and replaced with an inert substance. McFarlane was told his participation would clear a debt of between $10,000 and $15,000, which he amassed due to a cocaine addiction. Prior to the offence, Judge Turnbull noted McFarlane reported consuming just under an ounce of cocaine in a week, "which is an astronomical amount". "It was not an insubstantial debt and accordingly that may well have suggested to (McFarlane) this was not an insubstantial importation that he was to be involved in," he said. The judge said McFarlane's involvement showed his immaturity, ignorance of the consequences, and his impaired thinking as he "wallowed in a drug-addicted lifestyle". "He seems to me to be a young man who's walked into something far beyond his contemplation," he said. "It's young men and women like the offender who provide easy marks for drug syndicates." The court was told sophisticated international networks sourced the drugs, concealed them, and dispatched them to Australia before McFarlane was tasked with collection. While the 23-year-old only became involved in "the last step" of the offence, Judge Turnbull said it was a crucial task to the success of drug importation. He took into account McFarlane's difficult upbringing and dedication to rehabilitating himself, but said there must be a stern warning to would-be traffickers that the risk of severe punishment cancelled out financial rewards. McFarlane was sentenced to four years behind bars for attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawful import. He will be eligible for parole in July 2026 after a year and nine months in jail.
RNZ News
06-06-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Wiggins credits recovery from addiction to Lance Armstrong's support
Photo: KRISTOF VAN ACCOM Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move , where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues. - Reuters
CNA
06-06-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Britain's Wiggins says he owes recovery from addiction to Armstrong's support
Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move, where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues.
Reuters
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Britain's Wiggins says he owes recovery from addiction to Armstrong's support
June 6 (Reuters) - Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move, where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues.
CBC
13-05-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Cycling champion Bradley Wiggins says he was a cocaine addict and is 'lucky' to be alive
Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins has revealed he became addicted to cocaine after retiring from cycling. In an interview with British newspaper The Observer, the five-time Olympic gold medalist said he is "lucky" to be alive. "There were times my son thought I was going to be found dead in the morning," the 45-year-old Wiggins said. "I was a functioning addict. People wouldn't realize. I was high for most of the time for years." The British cyclist was a gold medalist in four straight Olympics from 2004 and won the Tour in 2012. He retired in 2016. In 2022, he made an allegation in an interview with Men's Health UK magazine that he was sexually groomed by a coach, whose name he did not reveal, when he was 13 years old. In a soon-to-be-published autobiograph, The Chain, Wiggins detailed how his life spiraled into a cycle of debt and addiction after retirement from the sport. Wiggins told the Observer his cocaine addiction became a "really bad problem" and he was "walking a tightrope." He quit his addiction a year ago, the newspaper said. "I already had a lot of self-hatred, but I was amplifying it," he said. "It was a form of self-harm and self-sabotage. It was not the person I wanted to be. I realized I was hurting a lot of people around me."
