Former NBA player talks drug addiction

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - A former NBA player who battled drug addiction and won shared his story Monday night for folks at the University of West Florida.

On the court, Chris Herren was a force.  At 6' 2", 197 pounds, he was a prototypical point guard, drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999.

He said through all of it, he was his own worst enemy.

"I think we all struggle with something at one level or another; and I think the earlier you share it, the better off you are," Herren said.

Herren, who played two seasons in the NBA and multiple years in Europe, said he nearly lost everything, his kids, wife, even his life to a heroin addiction.

But five sober years later, he stood tall, captivating a crowd at the University of West Florida by sharing his story.

"Drugs addicts, alcoholics, are the throw away of our society," Herren said.  "We are stepped over. We don't get treated like the rest of the people who suffer from illnesses, and that's what all this is about."

Herren said his proudest moment so far of this cross-country tour came from a parent who spoke to him after they watched his ESPN 30 for 30 special on addiction.  The mother of a teenager said to him, your story encouraged her to have a conversation with my teenager I would've never had.

"To create conversation, to create dialogue, talk about this topic and not run away from it, that's what it's about," Herren said.

For some, the conversation hits much too close to home. 

CRC and Twelve Oaks brought people from their substance abuse programs to hear Herren's message. 

"I'm basically one of the rocks, so when I crumbled it seemed like everything else crumbled," said Toni Beckett, who's in a rehabilitation program.

Backett has a husband and son waiting for her in New Jersey.  She, too, battled a heroin addiction and asked Herren for advice.

"When he told me that I need to accept everything and just kind of let my family- do what I need to do to make them comfortable with me again, taking things away- my phone, taking drug tests, whatever I need to do to make them more trustworthy of me I will do," Beckett said.  "He just basically talked right to me."