Groton — Author and speaker Stephen Hill asked Ella T. Grasso Technical School students what the life of an addict looks like.

He asked if addicted people are homeless, middle class or wealthy? Do they come from a broken home, were they abused as a child, or do they have a loving, supportive family? Do they struggle in school academically and socially, were they picked on and bullied, or were they the popular student-athlete with a lot of friends? Are they male or female? Black or white? 

"The answer is all of the above and more because addiction affects all walks of life," Hill said.

Hill shared his story of how addiction can unfold and his journey of recovery Wednesday during sessions with students during the day, followed by a community presentation in the evening and a panel by local addiction outreach group Community Speaks Out.

Hill, 31, said he has been clean and sober for seven years.

"Everything good that I have in my life today is a direct result of sobriety," he said. "I’m at a point in my life today that I just didn’t think was possible seven years ago."

Hill grew up in Rockland County, N.Y., in a family with parents who were very involved in his life, and he and his three brothers played sports. He said his brothers never had problems with drugs or alcohol.

He said in his freshman year of high school, he went to a party and saw kids who were sports captains, kids doing well in school and kids from good families who smoke and drank, so he thought that was the way things are in high school.

He said one day three senior girls brought in water bottles full of vodka to a pep rally and were drinking all day. They left in a convertible for lunch and lost control of the vehicle and one of the girls was killed. The next day in school, people were silent in the hallways and crying.

But he said the shock didn't last long, and students soon were back to smoking and drinking.

He said he experienced no negative consequences from his behavior in his freshman year. But during his sophomore year he failed his first class and wasn't eligible to play for three hockey games because of his grades. He said his behavior changed and he started hanging out with a different group of friends that got high.

During his junior year, while under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, he tried cocaine for the first time and then Xanax, he said.

"These drugs turned me into somebody I'm not," he said. "I became very angry. I was getting into trouble in school."

After returning from a suspension, he went to a hockey tournament in upstate New York and got in a big argument with his coach and was kicked off the team, he said.

Without sports, which he said was his outlet, he turned to drugs completely and stopped going to school and instead hung out with older friends and got high, he said. Eventually, his school caught on and told his parents.

His parents sent him to a wilderness program for about two months and when he returned, he abided by a contract in which he had no drugs and alcohol, went to a support group and saw a counselor, and maintained a certain grade point average, he said. The school administration decided to extend his suspension from hockey into lacrosse season to send a message to other students, a decision with which he disagreed.

He met with coaches during the summer going into senior year and felt things were going well. But right before hockey season, his friend called and said he had oxycodone. Hill said he and his two friends reacted to the pills differently. He got addicted to the feeling instantly, while one of his friends got nauseous.

"My painkiller addiction didn’t get out of control right away my senior year of high school simply because I didn’t really have access to them," he said.

After high school, he went to community college in upstate New York but he wasn't ready for that freedom and failed out, he said. At 18, he wasn't in school and wasn't working and had a serious drug habit, so he got involved in dealing drugs. 

From age 18 to 24, he would get arrested, go into treatment and then come out and do it all over again, except the criminal charges and his drug habit were getting more serious, he said.

He said while he was high on painkillers, he was in an accident while riding on the back of a four-wheeler and was in a wheelchair for four months, couldn't walk for 15 months and was in excruciating pain. His doctor prescribed painkillers, but Hill doubled and tripled his dose by buying it illegally on the street, he said. When he returned to his doctor and she told him to take Advil and he couldn't get the drugs on the street, he went through withdrawal and realized he was addicted to OxyContin.

At the height of his addiction, he had a 900 milligram-a-day habit, he said.

He said the lowest moment in his addiction was when he was on probation in New Jersey and staying at his parents' house in New York. He was sitting with his grandmother when the police came and arrested him and found his drugs.

He said that was three weeks before his brother's wedding on Sept. 28, 2012, and on Sept. 29, he had his last drink and drug.

He had to be back in treatment by Monday morning or be remanded to Bergen County jail in New Jersey, so he said he went to a 28-day treatment program in Connecticut, followed by a yearlong recovery program.

About month five or six, he woke up and realized drugs weren't the first thing on his mind, he said.

"I started to see a completely different way of life," he said. "I started to eat healthy, was going to the gym, I was seeing a counselor. I made some really close friends in recovery and we supported each other through our common struggle."

He enrolled in two Community College classes and got A's in both and got a part-time job at the treatment program, he said.

"All these good things slowly started coming into my life and it was because I was living a life in recovery," he said. "And it's not about just not using drugs and alcohol. It's about being a good person. It's about doing the next right thing and helping other people."

The courts agreed to count the program as an alternative to incarceration, he said. He also got a full-time job at the treatment program.

He said he hasn't looked back since. He lives his life in a completely different way and he has a lot of people, who "spoke up when things needed to be said," to thank for it.

He said addiction can happen to anyone and it's important to understand the risks and also how one's actions can affect and influence other people.

Just before he celebrated two years in recovery, he decided to leave the job and enroll in John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Hill, who is now in his third year at Brooklyn Law School, interned in the Rockland County District Attorney's Office, wrote a book titled "A Journey to Recovery" and gives speaking engagements about his recovery.

He encouraged students to believe in themselves and find their passion.

"There are so many great opportunities out there, so many ways for you to live your life and have fun without using drugs and alcohol," he said. "I do it every single day."

Grasso Tech's Dean of Students Jonathan Grossman said the talk "offered a clear picture into the life of an addict" and "generated a great deal of discussion between students and between students and faculty."

Groton Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator Carolyn Wilson said the event was made possible because Grasso completed a prescription drug education curriculum in health class — with 125 students — that resulted in a mini-grant from SERAC for an educational prevention event.

"Having Stephen come to Groton was a great experience," Wilson said. "His story shows the importance of how choices we make early in life can impact us in the short and long term. As a prevention specialist, that's a message that we continually deliver. His story demonstrates the importance of making informed life choices and that recovery is possible."

k.drelich@theday.com