'I might've been killed': Why I gave up dealing meth

A Kiwi man has opened up about the horrors of living a life filled with drugs, gangs and how he broke the cycle to get his life back on track.

Talking to Vice, the man, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed he was born into a life riddled with violence and crime.

Growing up he witnessed horrible beatings, including a man being chucked out a two-storey window and women having their teeth knocked out.

The man's pathway to selling meth started as a kid when was paid $50 to just sit in a car during a robbery.

Eventually he was soon asked to be a getaway driver. He wasn't old enough or skilled enough to drive a vehicle.

Just a few years later he was dragged into selling drugs, in particular, meth. It turned out to be a prosperous business for the young man who was soon benefiting from the large sums of money made from selling the substance.

"I started having money and nice things. All the cool clothes and other material stuff. It was how every poor kid had always wanted to live. It wasn't a particularly difficult business. $300 a point, $1000 a gram. It's pretty profitable when you can get your supply for cheap," he told Vice.

However, the man's life was soon tipped upside down when he was turned on by his own friends. He soon became paranoid - paranoid that everyone was a potential threat.

"I was set up once by my own childhood mates. It was f***ed. I'm lucky that I was tipped off, otherwise I might've been killed.

"Someone was paid to beat me up and rob me of everything. I was just about to go and meet up with him, when I was told what was going on."

It was the moment he realised he had to get himself out of the crippling lifestyle. He admitted he's now lost the majority of his childhood friends to prison or the game lifestyle.

Desperate for a fresh start be moved away from a life of crime where "people would kill for smoke", saying he didn't want any "potential partner or child of mine living at risk every day".

"Kiwis don't realise this, but people go missing in New Zealand. They stay missing too."

He now works fulltime and believes the decision to walk away saved his family and himself from a potentially deadly future.

But he fears others won't see the light.

"They grow up in it, not around it. Family, friends, even parents are profiting in some way from it. From that, comes the curiosity and desire for more."