Former NBA Player Shares His Story of Addiction at Mt. Hope High

March 25, 2011 – By Sara Bagwell, Bristol-Warren Patch

Former NBA Player Shares His Story of Addiction at Mt. Hope High

Fall River native Chris Herren spent years battling addiction to cocaine, painkillers and heroin. Today, the former Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics NBA player is almost three years sober and spends much of his time spreading his story to high school and college students in hopes of preventing them from giving in to peer pressure and falling to addiction.

Sponsored by the Varsity Athletes Against Substance Abuse (VAASA) and the Bristol and Warren Substance Abuse Task Force, Herren spoke to freshmen and sophomores at Mt. Hope High School on Thursday. Herren told the packed auditorium of his struggle with substance abuse for much of his basketball career, which caused him to be expelled from college and traded from team to team.

“From 1999 to 2005, I really don’t remember playing sober,” Herren said. “I had no desire to practice, I just showed up for games.”

In 2008, Herren finally overcame his addiction. In May 2011, his memoir, “Basketball Junkie,” written with Bill Reynolds will be released, followed by a film documentary on ESPN scheduled for the fall of 2011.

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