Article about my journey and book in the Daily Record:

WHEN Mark Dempster leaves his Harley Street clinic to head home, he passes the spot where he was scoring drugs and sleeping rough just a few years ago.

Counselling stressed-out city traders and millionaires’ kids on addiction, the softly-spoken Scot is one of the UK’s most respected experts, helping thousands of people quit drinking and drugs.

Now, as a former addict, dealer and drug smuggler, Mark’s own story – chronicled in his book Nothing To Declare – has become a real inspiration.

His teens and 20s sound like Trainspotting – yet not even Irvine Welsh could have dreamed up the ending.

Mark said: “I am amazed I’m still alive, never mind having people want my help and listening to what I have got to say.

“I walk out of my office and a few streets away see the park bench that 16 years ago, I was sleeping on. I was a hopeless addict, caring about nothing but my next fix.

“Now I have a family and a career helping people, proving you can change your life, no matter how low you’ve gone. It’s sometimes so surreal, as if I have lived two lives in one.”

It was Who guitarist Pete Townshend who encouraged Mark to write his story and fellow rock royalty Jimmy Page popped in for the book launch.

Ex-addicts Davina McCall, Russell Brand and Boy George have all read it and Mark is in talks over film rights.

Nothing To Declare is a graphic account of a 17-year addiction that saw Mark smuggle hash, heroin, LSD and speed across the globe.

And it lays bare the reality of an addict’s life – losing his best friend to a heroin overdose, spending months in a Spanish jail and swallowing condoms filled with heroin to smuggle the drug across borders.

Last week, Mark, 48, returned to Glasgow to bring in the New Year with family and visit many of the places where he grew up.

Read more: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/mark-dempster-tells-his-story-from-being-1521382