I often end my blog entries on celebrities and athletes who have been busted for drug-related offenses with a statement about how I hope they get a good Massachusetts drug class and devote part of their lives to helping others from making the same mistake they did. Chris Herren is an example of a young man who is doing just that.
Herren, a former professional basketball player, speaks to high schools around the country about the heroin addiction that derailed his life and career with the Boston Celtics. As reported in www.boston.com.
The powerful tale of opiate abuse attempts to keep others from ever experimenting with this horribly addictive drug.
But middle-class shame and prejudice has made this a “silent epidemic,” a taboo issue in many neighborhoods, some say.
Herren’s story is moving and is the tale that many of us whether professional athletes or not. It goes to show that just taking one pill or trying a drug one time can really ruin a life.
His story is especially important now with the variety of substances used and abused by our nation’s youth.
The 36-year-old Herren was a star athlete in Fall River, Massachusetts. He grew up a hotshot athlete from an established family with several homes — not the profile people tend to assign to drug addicts. He said the stereotypical picture is wrong; opiate addiction can happen to anyone. It is time to change the culture of silence around addiction, he said, and people must stand up and talk about it.
It is ever-so-refreshing to see Herren not only has turned his life around but is working on changing the lives of others!