Fallen Basketball Star Herron Rebounds From Life of Drug Abuse

January 10,2013

Former Boston Celtic Chris Herron, 37 now, makes a career from traveling to educate children on the risks of early drug use, and drug use in general...

Fallen Basketball Star Herron Rebounds From Life of Drug Abuse

Former Boston Celtic Chris Herron, 37 now, makes a career from traveling to educate children on the risks of early drug use, and drug use in general. Heron reached the peak of his career as the starting point guard for the Boston Celtics, but through his long struggle with drug abuse, the all star athlete nearly lost everything.

Herron tells kids that as a young adult, in high school he was a successful student and athlete. But even then, he remembers that he and his friends would drink and smoke socially”even at home. The rite of passage that most kids go through around the age of 16 to 18 can be the most important time, considering that those who do drink and smoke around in that age are 60% more likely to develop substance dependency in their adult lives. Herron went on to stress to parents, that many feel it is okay for young adults to experiment with drinking and smoking as long as it is at home, but it can lead to incredible damage in the future.

Herron made it through high school and his early career just fine. It wasn't until after suffering a season-ending injury at Boston College that he began using cocaine. From that point on Herron failed many drug tests, bounced around schools and teams until finally a heroin addiction ended his career as a basketball star. He entered rehab many times and was arrested as well. Herron recounts that he even came very close to losing his family”the most important part of his life before he finally got help.

In 2008, NBA Hall of famer Chris Mullin, a recovering alcoholic helped Herron clean up and change for the better. Since then, Herron has traveled the world talking to students. He wants to pass on the knowledge and experience of suffering from a drug addiction. He went on to show that out of fifteen of his old high school friends, seven of them became heroin addicts, and still today, four are still suffering from the addiction. But even more than developing early habits of drug and alcohol abuse, Herron also stresses to parents that putting too much pressure on kids is not good for their future habits. His message is that while it's good to encourage and support children to excel in sports, grades and hobbies, too much pressure can lead to insecurities and other emotional problems which may blossom into greater issues as they mature.

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