If you’re looking for an example of how heroin addiction can happen to anyone, look no farther than Jeff Allison. Jeff appeared to have it all- baseball talent enough to get him drafted after high school, money in the bank and a family who loved him. None of these things was enough to prevent him from nearly overdosing twice on heroin. Now sober, Jeff is using his experience to try to prevent others from making the same mistakes he did. Here’s an excerpt from a recent story on Jeff in The Boston Globe, and you can click the link below to see the full story. If you, or someone you love, is struggling with addiction in the greater Cleveland area, please know that The Center for Effective Living specializes in treating addiction, and that we can sometimes help patients get discounts on medications we prescribe from the pharmacy (work on phrasing) Ask us for details.
The days of his 95 miles-per-hour fastball. The days when drooling big league scouts huddled behind home plate during high school games, close enough to hear and see the smoky snap of a catcher’s mitt punctuate another perfect pitch, fiery evidence of raw and pure talent.
It was talent that obscured a dark, deadly secret. “I was so young and I was so stupid that I didn’t understand a lot of things, including life itself,’’ he said. “I just didn’t get it.’’
After a high school career for the Peabody Tanners that was the stuff of storybooks, Allison was the first-round pick of the Florida Marlins in 2003, the 16th player selected overall in the Major League Baseball draft.
A month later, a $1.85 million contract in his pocket, he was taking batting practice at Pro Player Stadium in Miami and shagging fly balls with the World Series-bound Marlins. He was just a visiting prospect then. But few doubted he was headed for The Show.
A year later, he was rushed unconscious, laboring for breath, after injecting heroin he had bought at a ramshackle three-decker in Lynn. “I was 19 years old. I thought I could beat anything,’’ he said. “Something so prestigious had happened to me and a few months later I found myself addicted to opiates.’’