Ben Riley was sure he’d be dead by 40. But then that’s what a £600 a day cocaine habit will do to you. Over the past 25 years, he’s been homeless, a successful club promoter and record label owner, addicted to crack and heroin, a rapper, an MC, an alcoholic, a convicted shoplifter and more recently the director of a community interest company, or CIC.
He’s 45 now, clean of drugs and alcohol. Through his company DryWave, he organises sober club nights across the north west, as well as workshops and community outreach projects for young people. But best of all, he got past 40 and he’s still alive, despite a savage rollercoaster ride of addiction. He was 13 when he first started smoking cannabis, quickly taking it up daily. At the time, it felt like he’d found the answer to everything.
