Just hours after receiving her OAM Marion Watson was injecting herself with heroin. Watson had a $480 a day habit which she was financing by trafficking heroin to Canberra junkies. On the morning of Xmas Eve, 1998 Marion Watson was arrested, as the result, it turned out, of ongoing police surveillance. When she appeared in court on Boxing Day, the presiding magistrate was Ron Cahill, a former associate of her late father's. A "shocked and saddened" Cahill refused bail and disqualified himself from any further direct involvement in her case. At subsequent hearings, it was alleged that Marion Watson had been distributing more than $28,000 worth of heroin a week. Now, for the first time, Marion Watson is talking about her extraordinary fall from grace. Australian Story has interviewed Watson, her mother, and friends and associates. The result is a compelling insight into the depths and degradation of heroin addiction.
—Australian Story