Jack turned his back on drugs and is now running a café in Cork town

JACK Tobin began smoking cannabis when he was just 13 and went on to become a serious addict of a cocktail of narcotics for the best part of 10 years.

This week he took another significant step in leaving behind his life of addiction as he launched his coffee blend in the café he and his mother, Sonya, have been running in Kanturk for the past seven months.

He turned his back on drugs in 2021 and embarked on a three-month rehabilitation programme at Fellowship House in Cork.

“I started on my journey of addiction when I was 13 years old and started smoking cannabis socially with friends,” he said.

“I started experimenting when I was 14/15 with other drugs and I continued on experimenting until it got a hold on me.

“It was great fun at the start till it gets a hold on you, later on in life it became just me in a room on my own.

“It was 10 years of heavy drug abuse, I was depressed and anxious,” said Jack. It brought me to my knees.”

Jack said drugs are readily available throughout rural Ireland.

“Drugs are rife all over rural Ireland, no matter where I went, I found them,” he said. “It’s becoming more accessible to people.”

In 2021, Jack came to a turning point in his life when he knew he faced difficult choices.

“It got to a point where I couldn’t continue — I knew there were two or three options for me,” he said.

“Was it going to be suicide because my mental health was deteriorating, would I overdose from the drugs I was putting through my system or was it time to get clean?

“I knew there was a better life out there, I didn’t want to die, I knew it could be turned around but I didn’t know how.”

To make the leap from being a drug addict to becoming a proprietor of a busy café was no mean feat.

“It’s fantastic, but the only luck I have is that I have a very supportive family and network around me,” he said.

After coming out of rehab, Jack was in no financial position to get into business, having incurred debts during his drug taking days.

“My parents believed in me, I always had a passion for cooking as I took it up in school,” he said, referring to the years he spent in the Cork Life Centre whose chief executive, Don O’Leary, had been very supportive to him. “That’s where my passion for cooking ignited.”

Having come out of rehab, he would visit the café he would eventually take over for cups of tea and coffee as he contemplated his next steps. “I was trying to rebuild my life,” he said.

He became friendly with the owner of the café who, at one point, mentioned she would be returning to Turkey to look after her family following the devastating earthquake which hit that country earlier this year.

He joked that he would be interested in taking over the café — but the joke became a reality. “I took the idea to my parents when she came back to me and believed I could make it work, I suppose.”

They’re approaching seven months of business at this stage. One of the issues with a new café in any town is that coffee suppliers don’t want to provide their blend to more than one café in a community to avoid competing with themselves.

“Soma from Cork city came to us as they had heard my story and said ‘why don’t you brand your own coffee and it will help you continue your journey and spread awareness about addiction and mental health’.”

The café is called the Catch Up Café — the idea behind the name is, as Jack explained, ‘sometimes we don’t all need a meeting we just need a catch up and chat’. And the coffee is called the ‘Recovery’ blend as the Brazilian beans it’s made of pack a powerful flavour to match Jack’s own story of how he turned his life around.

FLOOD

In September a flash flood led to the café being under 18in of water but the community rallied around on a Sunday night to clear up the place so it would open again the following day.

“Closing the café was not an option at this early stage — we weren’t going to be beaten by it,” said Jack.

Work has continued on a gradual revamp, and they’re telling the story on social media.

“We are delighted we made the decision to do it in stages as our customers love following our journey and see what we are putting into it and our followers on social media agree.”

The café is continuing to go from strength to strength and Jack and his mother Sonya are delighted to see it grow into a community hub.

Part of Jack’s idea is to get people thinking about meeting up for a coffee rather than a pint but it’s also about talking about the things we don’t talk about in Ireland.

“My journey is recovery, my story of addiction, I want to change all conversations around mental health and addiction, not just mine.”