For Jessica Gaddes, the night didn't truly begin until her quick trip the bathroom.

On the outside, she looked like a normal young woman enjoying a night out at one of her favourite haunts in Newtown, a trendy area in Sydney's inner west.

Then 18, you'd find her with friends gathered around a table with cocktails, clad in a mini skirt, heels and makeup, after they'd shared a taxi from the western suburbs in search of some fun closer to the city.

She looked gorgeous. But what her friends didn't know was that after the night was over, the party continued for Jessica. She was a 'full blown drug addict'.

What should have been a quiet Wednesday became an all-night bender, taking her from Newtown to Oxford Street and beyond, always the last one standing on the dancefloor, fuelled by a cocktail of party drugs.

Speed was her favourite.

'By age 18, I had well and truly become an addict but hadn't realised it,' Jess tells me. 

'I looked like someone who was going places in life. I was earning really good money for a teenager as a real estate agent, but it only fuelled my addictions.'

Jessica Gaddes, from western Sydney, (pictured) was addicted to drugs for seven years

From her late teens, she was a 'party girl' whose drug of choice was speed. She later began taking ice (crystal meth) after an allergic reaction

Her downward spiral saw her enter rehab at 23, beginning a years-long journey to staying sober.

Now age 37, she knows it was never about partying; instead it was poor mental health that drove her to mind-altering substances.

Jess tells me she didn't know any better when she was young and thought taking party drugs was harmless. Many young women still feel the same way today, but their preference is overwhelmingly cocaine instead of speed. 

Before her life went out of control, Jess sold homes in Penrith, on Sydney's western fringe. She was able to save up to buy property of her own, was an avid traveller, and was in a loving relationship. 

She only blames herself for slipping into the 'black hole' of drug abuse that saw her become homeless and, in her words, a 'pest to society'. 

Jess hopes by sharing her story, young people will think twice before taking party drugs, which can often be a pipeline to serious narcotics.

'Go out and enjoy your younger years, they're the best of your life, but do it safely,' she warns.

LIFE BEFORE ADDICTION 

Jessica was a 'blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl who went to Catholic school'. She ended up spending her 28th birthday in a jail cell (her mugshot is seen on the right)

Jess grew up in a middle-class household with loving parents and a brother. She had friends at school, despite being a bit 'nerdy' with her glasses.

'I was a blonde haired, blue-eyed little girl who went to a Catholic school,' she says.

But from a young age, she exhibited behaviour that was considered 'naughty,' which she now recognises as early signs of mental health issues. 

'I went through my whole life masking my true feelings and emotions. Twenty years ago there wasn't any information around mental health - it was a different time,' she adds.

'I was a chameleon; I used to think I could fit in with everyone. I was a people-pleaser and would go above and beyond.' 

Despite having a few close friendships, she couldn't shake the feeling of being an outsider and struggled with regulating her emotions.

At 13, she started drinking alcohol. A year later, she smoked marijuana for the first time. It marked the start of a double life that would continue into adulthood.

'On one side I was the Catholic school student, then on the other side I was this rebel that just wanted to do my own thing,' she explains.

Meanwhile, she was crippled by self-doubt. She would also get told how smart she was, yet still felt 'dumb' and would put herself down. 

At 16, she came out as lesbian and sought refuge in Sydney's gay scene. Within a year she had tried speed for the first time while on a weekend away.

It was between the ages of 18 and 21 that her life became one non-stop party. She drank and took party drugs often. Even a near-death experience couldn't stop her.

One night, she suffered an allergic reaction after repeatedly taking speed. Her glands swelled to the point she couldn't talk and nearly suffocated. 

It was only after going to the hospital and telling doctors what she had taken that she received life-saving medical care. 

Realising she could have died, Jessica never touched speed again, but her drug-taking didn't stop altogether. She swapped speed for crystal meth. 

It all started when a friend came over and introduced her to the deadly drug, commonly known as 'ice' in Australia. 

'He told me it has the same effect as speed and wouldn't make me sick,' she says.

'He called it "shabu", but I didn't know what that was. I didn't say no. It wasn't speed - it was ice.' 

The feeling after taking the drug was all-encompassing. It made her forget about her emotions and all of life's problems. 

At the time, she was living in Queensland. She had just turned 21, sold her house in Sydney and was renting a one-bedroom flat for $250 a week.  

She described the move as impulsive, driven by breaking up with her girlfriend and getting a new partner. It proved to be disastrous. 

'Queensland is where things really hit the fan and it all went downhill,' she tells me.

She lived in two different rentals in Queensland, leaving the second in a terrible state due to her dissolute lifestyle. Nine months later she was back in Sydney.

There, she continued to use ice for five years and found herself hanging around 'bad people and doing bad things'. For Jessica, the party was well and truly over.

She blames herself for slipping into a 'black hole' and became a homeless 'pest to society'

'MY DRUG DEALER TOLD ME TO GO TO REHAB' 

It wasn't until Jessica's own dealer begged her to go to rehab that she considered getting help for her addiction.

At the time, she was suffering from ice-induced psychosis and wouldn't let anyone enter the granny flat she was living in.

The only person she'd open the door for was a friend who sold drugs. He promised her free marijuana if she let him in to check on her.

Seeing her physical and mental decline, he refused to offer her drugs. Instead he told her to get help, saying he had recently got clean from drugs - although he continued to sell them - and it was the best decision he'd ever made. 

'Nah, I'm all good,' Jess replied.

But the seed had been planted in Jessica's mind. If a drug dealer, of all people, was telling her she'd gone too far, maybe it was time to throw in the towel. So she stopped taking drugs for a short period.

But her window of sobriety was all too brief as she soon fell in with the 'wrong people' and began using again.

Her addiction, which lasted for seven years in total, worsened and soon she was back on the streets. Sometimes she found a house to squat in; other nights she slept without a roof over her head.

She recalls waking up one morning and hearing a father walk past her with his daughters, telling them, 'That's what drugs does to you, girls.'

Meanwhile, her family was sick with worry. Jessica's mother even developed Bell's palsy because she was so stressed. This prompted her to try rehab at age 23, where she stayed for two months.

But it didn't work. She began using again at the end of her treatment. 

HITTING ROCK BOTTOM  

Flash forward to her 28th birthday. Rather than being surrounded by friends or a partner, she was locked in a cold jail cell. 

Sitting alone with her head in her hands, she'd just been charged with fraud - a crime she had resorted to to fund her addiction.

She'd hit rock bottom. 

'Once I was in that cell, I was like, "Holy s***." It was such a slap in the face. My life had unravelled so far,' she admits. 

'I had had multiple rock-bottom moments in my life, but that one hurt the most and destroyed every part of my soul. 

'There's a saying with addiction: it either ends with jail, institutions or deaths. I had done jails, I had done institutions, the next step for me was death,' Jessica says. 

'I had met so many people during my years of rehab who died. When I lost them, I promised I would live this life for them,' she adds, her voice cracking.

Jessica says her arrest was the moment she knew she had to 'get her life together'. After three months behind bars, she was released to a rehab centre.

The road to recovery was long and far from easy. At one point, she considered giving up on rehab but a remark from a someone she barely knew changed her perspective.

'If you leave tonight, you're going to die,' the man, another recovering addict, said.

It was blunt, it was shocking, it felt like a threat almost. But he was right. If she walked out, she was going to die - maybe not that night, but someday.

So she stayed.

The road to recovery was long and far from easy for Jessica, who is grateful to be alive

These days it's commonplace to see girls as young as 18 talk about 'getting a bag' like it's ordering a round of cocktails. Jessica says no one did cocaine when she was young 20 years ago because it was a 'rich man's drug'.

It is still expensive, of course, but it has nonetheless become normalised, with young women chipping in to buy a few grams to share on a big weekend.

The widespread use of cocaine is concerning because it can lure young people into thinking drugs are socially acceptable, making the leap to harder and cheaper drugs like ice not seem so dangerous. 

Looking back on her dark past, Jessica is grateful to be alive and thankful she was able to overcome her addiction.

She still has the occasional drink on a night out with friends, but leaves it at that. 

These days, she is a professional cleaner, has been single for eight years and is on a mission to raise awareness about the dangers of party drugs.

For support in Australia call the National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline anytime - 1800 250 015

Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14