Monday, March 24, 2014

Thank you, Chris Herren & GHS SADD!

March 24, 2014 - GeorgetownCARES would like to thank Chris Herren, former Celtics player and a recovering addict, for speaking with all of our Georgetown High School students today, courtesy of our GHS Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter. As Chris delivered his message of both the hope in recovery and his cautionary tale, the audience was riveted in silent awe. Chris’s story is that of a young basketball superstar out of Fall River, MA. For many years, Chris basked in the ever-growing approval of the crowds, the colleges who recruited him, the NBA, his friends and family. That is, until cocaine, opiates and heroin threw him off track from his career and family dreams, like he never imagined. Like he never planned on, when as a high school students, he started at parties with his friends to drink and smoke. Are drinking, cigarettes, pot gateway substances for teens? Never mind the statistics, Herren said. Toward the end of his drugging, he knew many a heroin addict, not one of whom didn’t begin as a teen that way. That’s why Herren likes to talk more about the first days than the last days. Because if he had said no to underage drinking and smoking as a teen, the last days most likely would not have happened. One student asked, what should you do if you have a friend who has done hard drugs before, but promises not to do it again? Herren didn’t hesitate: If you know you friend has tried drugs or alcohol? You tell an adult. That’s what a friend does. That’s what I wish I had done for my friends. 7 out of the 15 kids on my high school basketball team ended up as heroin addicts. If I had told, maybe that wouldn’t have happened. And I wish someone had told an adult on me. Ask yourself, why do you need substances? If you can feel good about being you 24/7, there’d be no need for substances. Again, we thank you, Chris Herren, for telling your story. If only one young student here can make a better choice from hearing you speak, it’s all worth it. Find out more about Chris at: http://www.theherrenproject.org http://www.ahoopdream.com/profile/chris-herren/ http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/chris-herren-five-year-anniversary-of-sobriety-080113 Find Chris’s 2012 memoir, Basketball Junkie, and his DVD, Unguarded, at www.amazon.com