The deadly cocaine pipeline women DON'T talk about: I was doing lines five days a week… but it was another drug passed around on a plate at a posh party that nearly killed me

At just 20 years old, Belinda Gavin left Australia for Los Angeles with dreams of making it as a model or actress.

But Hollywood’s dazzling nightlife soon pulled her in another direction.

Between auditions, she worked the doors and tended bars at the city’s hottest clubs, and by 21, she was swept up by the seductive rush of cocaine.

‘Cocaine was everywhere and I never paid for it. I’d have a bump here and there while working just to stay awake then more when I was partying,’ Belinda, now 54, said.

‘When everything closed at 2am no one wanted to go home, so I finished work and partied all night.’

Belinda was born in Sydney and grew up on the Gold Coast before heading overseas for a new start. She had already experimented with party drugs in Australia, but never considered her habit to be a problem.

Before long, her drug and alcohol use in LA quickly slipped into a regular habit – but not so serious that she considered herselfaddicted.

In hindsight, she now realises she was on a path of self-destruction.

‘On the outside, my life looked glamorous – celebrities, champagne, events. On the inside, I was falling apart and had no idea,’ Belinda said.

‘One of my best friends was a dealer. I’d watch her tease people, drawing out perfect little lines in a small table while others sat drooling, waiting their turn like they were hungry animals.

‘It felt glamorous, a game, and I convinced myself I wasn’t caught up in it. I thought I was different because I consumed far less and still felt in control because I didn’t party all night. I went home to sleep, ate and worked out.

‘I wasn’t buying drugs or searching for them – at least, that’s what I told myself.’

But despite the rules Belinda set for herself, her drug use escalated. Soon, she was taking cocaine five nights a week in bathrooms, behind bars and at after-parties.

Belinda juggled a job with acting school and even landed a role in a play – but missing rehearsals due to hangovers and crushing comedowns became a pattern.

One morning, she woke to a mocking voicemail from a fellow student: ‘You’ve missed rehearsals again. I hear it’s snowing early in Los Angeles.’

‘Of course, it was a not-so-subtle dig,’ said Belinda. ‘Then it hit me, “Did everyone else already know I had a problem before I did?”‘

Still, Belinda brushed it aside, convincing herself she was different from the others – even though she was broke and slipping further down the same risky path.

Over the course of a year, her partying spiralled, and by 22 she felt trapped. ‘I was caught in a vortex,’ she said.

Her first real wake-up call came one night after stumbling home in the early hours of the morning.

‘I was washing my face and using an earbud to clean my nose before collapsing into bed when my nose suddenly started bleeding heavily. I couldn’t make it stop,’ Belinda said.

‘It was 5am as the blood streamed down my face, I stared into the mirror and locked eyes with myself. In that moment, I realised I wasn’t as in control as I thought.’

The bloody nose lasted for more than an hour and a half before Belinda finally managed to stop it and fall asleep.

Even then, she wasn’t ready to quit.

Weeks later, at a house party in Marina Del Rey, Belinda watched as friends passed around a plate lined with white powder. She was expecting cocaine, until one friend said, ‘That’s not cocaine – that’s heroin.’

The line between casual experimentation and total surrender blurred instantly.

‘I don’t know if I flinched or not but I tried a small amount,’ Belinda said. ‘Almost instantly it was like I was floating in the clouds while feeling heavy in my body.’

After that, she knew she wanted more – and heroin wasn’t hard to get hold of.

One of her friends was a regular user whose home was a den for those ‘chasing the dragon’ – the act of smoking, rather than injecting, the drug.

Over the coming months, Belinda used heroin five more times. The high was so addictive that it made her realise just how low she had sunk.

It was Belinda’s best friend who finally made her see that she had a problem.

‘She was visiting from Aspen and spent time with me in LA. During her visit, she witnessed my lifestyle, including the heroin use,’ Belinda said.

‘She came with me to get my nails done with some other girls. We all got in the car, I was as high as a kite and my other friend was smoking speed.

‘The next day my friend said, “Look, what the hell is going on? Do you realise what you’re doing to yourself?”‘

Belinda eventually agreed to leave Los Angeles and go to Aspen with her friend.

‘I felt like I was chewed up and spat out of LA,’ she said.

‘If I didn’t go to Aspen, I don’t know what my life would be like today. When I got there, my bubble had popped and I didn’t touch drugs again.

‘I knew something had to change and backed off from the scene. I started to think about what I came to LA to do and what my priorities were. Instead of going to bed at sunrise, I was waking up then. The switch saved me.’

Belinda quit working in bars and took a course to become a personal trainer. She hasn’t looked back.

‘Over the years, I’ve lost friends to drugs and alcohol. I decided early on I wasn’t going to be one of them,’ she said.

‘Looking back, I know the decision to stop when I did may have saved my life.’

Today, Belinda is the event manager for Australia’slargest adult lifestyle event, SXhibition.

She hopes sharing her experience will encourage others to tread carefully around party drugs – which can so easily lead to ‘harder’ narcotics like heroin.

‘Be careful, look after each other and don’t party with strangers – it’s not worth the risk.’