Telling it like it is:
Shortland Street actor Reuben Milner (pictured) outlines the dangers of drug use as his character spirals into addiction. Kerry Harvey reports.
Shortland Street star issues drugs warning.
When Shortland Street’s Jack Hannah came out of the closet, actor Reuben Milner worried about the impact his character’s decision would have on his own life.
“Back in the day, I was a young boy and, not being gay, it’s an odd thing but I got used to it quite quickly, realising if you want to be in this job you do anything for it,” he says. “It may not be how you live but other people do live like that so harden up and just do it.”
However, now the aspiring young Ferndale doctor is spiralling into methamphetamine addiction, the actor is again wondering how the public will react.
“It’s not the best look, I guess, but someone has to get up there and tell the story,” Milner says. “From what I’ve seen – obviously to play this role I’ve done a bit of research – the crisis that is meth, P, whatever you want to call it, is rising at a spectacular rate in New Zealand.”
Milner says the storyline has been a difficult one for him.
“My parents really gave me the warning about drugs and I’ve been through a lot of seminars and stuff that have shown what really does happen,” he says. “I’ve never been one to chase a feeling, I guess, whatever the feeling of being high is. I like to be in control of my life and just be straight-edged.”
He is also incredibly disappointed in the character he considered to be a responsible young man, who was keen to become a doctor in memory of his late sister Pixie (Thomasin McKenzie).
Jack’s first brush with drugs – through his then-lover Cam MacCaskill (Ryan Carter) – left him disgusted. However, he went on to take ecstasy with another boyfriend, Charlie (Taylor Griffin), and his most recent drug use can
also be traced back to a lover, this time Ferndale’s new doctor Lincoln (Alex Tarrant).
“I didn’t think Jack would be that type of person to take drugs to try to impress someone but that’s what meth does to people,” Milner says.
“It can completely change your way of thinking, your way of life and, from what I’ve seen, there have been people who were straight-edge like Jack who have taken meth and their whole life has completely gone down the gutter.”
He believes the current storyline is no fiction.
“This actually does happen. There are doctors out there who dabble in these kinds of things.
“They say, ‘I’m a doctor, I know what it does to my body and I know how to control it’. They might take it every so often but there might be one instance when they take it two weekends in a row and that’s all it takes for you to get hooked.
“There’s no safe level. I feel like once you get that one initial feeling that’s what hooks you. It’s such an intense feeling and such a nice feeling that when you stop feeling it, your whole world comes crashing down and all you want to do is chase that feeling again.
“It’s quite sad thinking about it. From what I’ve read in the scripts and what I’ve researched, you may get clean but it’s always going to be there apparently. You will forever have cravings.”
Milner is keen to hear what viewers think of the story, expecting the reception will be similar to when Jack was into ecstasy.
“People were like, ‘You are a druggie, now’. Maybe it would be good to get someone who has been doing it to come up and talk to me and give me some kind of feedback.” Need help? Call Alcohol and Drug Helpline on 0800 787 797 for confidential, non-judgmental advice and referral to a local service provider.