They began mixing with the wrong people and by the age of 14 were both addicted to drugs.

Starting with marijuana and party drugs like Ecstasy and cocaine, the young couple soon got 'bored' and searched for 'greater pleasure' in heroin. It was all downhill from there.

Hon-man was spoiled. After leaving school in Form Two he received an allowance from his family, which he used to buy drugs. Despite the allowance, there was a lack of communication between him and his parents.

'I was never short of money. My parents gave me whatever I wanted,' Hon-man recalled. 'But they never really paid attention to me and never complimented me for what I had done well.'

This family breakdown sent him off in the wrong direction and he joined the triads, where he thought he would get some recognition.

'I did a lot of bad things and prison was my second home,' he said. The two large tattoos on his arms remind him of how bad he used to be. 'I became friends with the prisoners as they recognised what I had done from these tattoos. How stupid I was!'

Suk-yee, then his girlfriend, followed in his footsteps.

Coming from a poor family, Suk-yee had no way of buying her drugs. She had left school with no special skills and resorted to prostitution to earn money.

Then, at the age of 17, she fell pregnant with Hon-man's child. The couple married.

'I thought about getting an abortion but we had no money. With help from Mother's Choice, I gave birth to our daughter,' she said. 'I wanted to give up drugs, but I was not strong enough to beat the temptation. We didn't have money, so we stole and cheated friends to get it.'

Three years later she was sent to a drug rehabilitation centre after being arrested for drug possession. When she was released she expected her life to improve.

But in 1998 she suffered another setback when Hon-man fell into a coma after taking a drug overdose. When he finally awoke he was disabled and confined to a wheelchair.

'At last I realised I had destroyed my life,' he said, 'but I didn't want to destroy my daughter's too, so I chose to live a new life with her and my wife.'

The couple are now voluntary workers who use their experience to help save other lost souls.

'We now have the willpower to make choices. Don't be forced to do something you shouldn't,' he said. 'You can live a better life.'

Hon-man's advice on drugs is simple and straightforward.

'The drugs, especially heroin, all taste very bitter. They are not nice at all. So why bother to try them in the first place?'

Hon-man and Suk-yee will tell their story on television in this Sunday's Purpose Driven Life - To Our Next Generation, scheduled to air at 12.25am on TVB Jade.