Chad Hepler’s story of addiction began when he was 14 years old. What started as a search for social acceptance and a hit of marijuana culminated in a parent-led intervention and stint at a wilderness treatment center.
“Marijuana IS a gateway drug,” he said. “I don’t care what anybody says.”
His drug use may have started with marijuana, but soon began to regularly include alcohol and experiments with other substances. Hepler may have found what he was looking for at a young age, but the lifestyle was anything but sustainable.
Today, as Hepler speaks with high schools students about the dangers of addiction, he likes to make the comparison between the beat-up life he left behind and the new one he’s forging from its ashes. In one hand he holds a picture of himself, bloody and bruised after an altercation with three off-duty state patrol officers, in the other a front-page newspaper story of him and his newly published book – “Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin.”
Hepler graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology from Kennesaw State University near Atlanta, Ga. in 2010 and is currently training to become an addiction counselor.
He has been clean for more than three years.
Visit www.interventionbooks.com for more information.
I read Chad’s book and highly recommend it for parents and others who want to understand what an addict is thinking and the progression from one drug to another. Great info – thanks for sharing your story, Chad!