NORTH HAVEN — For the first time in four years, Barbara Hoffman is clean.
A drug user since 14, the 18-year-old said, “All my energy is back. My head is a lot clearer. I don’t need to lie, cheat or steal from my parents.” Barbara estimates she stole money and goods from her parents worth $20,000 from the time she started drinking and using marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Xanax.
Her parents, Adam and Joanne Hoffman of North Haven, knew their daughter smoked pot, but were shocked to learn she was addicted to prescription drugs. Now that she’s in rehabilitation, they’re coming forward because they don’t want another family to suffer their pain.
A drug user since 14, the 18-year-old said, “All my energy is back. My head is a lot clearer. I don’t need to lie, cheat or steal from my parents.” Barbara estimates she stole money and goods from her parents worth $20,000 from the time she started drinking and using marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Xanax.
Her parents, Adam and Joanne Hoffman of North Haven, knew their daughter smoked pot, but were shocked to learn she was addicted to prescription drugs. Now that she’s in rehabilitation, they’re coming forward because they don’t want another family to suffer their pain.
Their world blew apart when they learned a week before Barbara Hoffman was to leave for college in September that she was on a downward spiral, addicted to OxyContin.
“I want to save another parent, another kid, from going through what our family has gone through,” Joanne Hoffman said. “Drugs should not be a secret. That’s how they thrive.”
“I want to save another parent, another kid, from going through what our family has gone through,” Joanne Hoffman said. “Drugs should not be a secret. That’s how they thrive.”
FROM A GOOD HOME
Married for 25 years, Adam Hoffman owns Godfrey-Hoffman Associates, an engineering and surveying firm. Joanne Hoffman is a nutritionist who runs her business in her husband’s building on Broadway. Joanne Hoffman was a room mother when her daughter was in elementary school. She belonged to the PTA, she was a Girl Scout leader, and Adam Hoffman never missed a soccer game.
“I never thought my kid would be involved” with drugs, said Joanne Hoffman.
Barbara Hoffman, 18, graduated from North Haven High School in June. She earned almost straight A’s, took Advanced Placement psychology, was a CAPT scholar, a varsity soccer player for four years and was in the Latin Club. She was planning to major in business.
But a week before she was to leave for Bryant University in Rhode Island, her parents found out she had an OxyContin problem. They had been aware, previously, that she smoked pot, and asked her to stop.
Barbara Hoffman said that starting at 14, she smoked pot about five times a day, every day. It wasn’t that hard to get. Drinking was more of a weekend thing, when friends would steal liquor from their parents’ homes or liquor stores would sell to underage youths.
Barbara Hoffman said her parents didn’t know what she was doing, but some kids had parents who didn’t care that they drank.
When she was 16, she started to experiment with other drugs, OxyContin being the first. She was addicted immediately.
“We were just bored. We thought it would be fun. We thought it would be a good idea,” she said of the people she used to hang out with. She tried cocaine a couple of times and didn’t like it, but she liked Ecstasy. When her friends stopped doing it, she continued. When her parents saw the pills, she convinced them they didn’t belong to her.
“I’m a good talker,” she said.
Her parents forbade her to smoke pot, and they started testing her for drugs. So, she stopped smoking and picked up OxyContin, which the tests didn’t pick up.
“During this time, I was breaking up with my boyfriend of three years. I started doing Oxys every day,” going from a few 40-milligram pills to 10 80-milligram pills a day.
She had a job so she had her own money.
“I stole from my parents a lot. ... I pawned all my gold, my parents’ gold. At the time I didn’t think it was a big deal because it seemed like everyone was doing it. Now I feel terrible. They worked hard for that stuff and I just took it and sold it like it was mine. I can’t even go by a pawn shop any more,” she said.
INTERVENTION
The moment of truth was Aug. 27, 2009.
“We confronted her with it. ... Her new boyfriend, from Hamden, was the dealer,” Adam Hoffman said.
“It was right out of a movie. She acted like a caged animal and said she wasn’t an addict. It was horrifying,” Joanne Hoffman said.
Barbara Hoffman said she hit rock bottom on the night of Oct. 30, when she totaled her car on Interstate 91 after snorting crushed Xanax pills. She was arrested.
Her parents made the decision to send Barbara to out-of-state rehab.
“She tried it and had no reason to stop. It made her feel good,” Joanne Hoffman said. “Now she’s seeking a job.” Joanne Hoffman said. “She’ll start college in the fall.”
INTERVENTION
The moment of truth was Aug. 27, 2009.
“We confronted her with it. ... Her new boyfriend, from Hamden, was the dealer,” Adam Hoffman said.
“It was right out of a movie. She acted like a caged animal and said she wasn’t an addict. It was horrifying,” Joanne Hoffman said.
Barbara Hoffman said she hit rock bottom on the night of Oct. 30, when she totaled her car on Interstate 91 after snorting crushed Xanax pills. She was arrested.
Her parents made the decision to send Barbara to out-of-state rehab.
“She tried it and had no reason to stop. It made her feel good,” Joanne Hoffman said. “Now she’s seeking a job.” Joanne Hoffman said. “She’ll start college in the fall.”
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