'I have nothing to lose': Dentist suspended for drugs fighting for his career | Stuff.co.nz

Dr David Crowther doesn’t want sympathy, he just wants to tell his story.
Sitting on the couch in his Lower Hutt flat, he says he’s got little left to lose - a career in tatters, his income gone.
Last year, the father-of-one was suspended by the Dental Council after testing positive for amphetamines. It is his second suspension in a 13 year career - the first came after he was caught self-prescribing medication in 2020.
Crowther admitted to both incidents - “I do take responsibility,” he says.
“I need to take accountability for my actions as well, so I have to put things in place to make it so that I can deal with cravings and stress, triggers, things that make me want to use,” Crowther tells Stuff.
So, why go public?
“I guess because I’ve been feeling so ashamed because of the stigma associated with drug addiction,” he says.
“I don’t believe that I’m the only one who’s been going through this and I think people need to be made aware of how regulatory bodies in New Zealand treat practitioners, like myself, with drug addiction with effectively a more punitive approach than a rehabilitative approach.”
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