For Brandon Bochiechio, the bottom came at 16 when he was caught sleeping in an unoccupied apartment and raced away, leaving all his belongings in a King Soopers grocery cart.
With nowhere to go, he called his mom. “I need help,” he told her, although the litany of drugs he’d been using – including LSD and Ecstasy – stunned her.
“I was petrified,” recalled Boni Lonnsburry, 47. “I had no clue.”
Now, six years later, Bochiechio is sober, and he and his mother are sharing their experiences at a “Parents Are the Power” town-hall meeting at 9News studios from 7 to 8 tonight at 500 Speer Boulevard.
Moderated by 9News anchors Bob Kendrick and Adele Arakawa, panelists will include Jamie Van Leeuwen of Urban Peak, a nonprofit agency serving at-risk and homeless youths, as well as Bochiechio, Lonnsburry and another parent and child.
To attend the free panel, call Parents Are the Power by 5 p.m. today at 303- 871-1460.
The panel will discuss drug and alcohol abuse warning signs and recovery, as well as provide insight into peer pressure and how to navigate conversations that discourage use by teens.
It’s an issue that experts say is especially troubling in Colorado, which ranks second in the nation for overall severity of substance abuse, according to the October 2004 annual report by the Colorado Department of Human Services, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division.
Yet Colorado also ranks last in the nation for investing in treatment, prevention and research, according to research released in 2001.
“There’s a lot of denial in families, and kids are exposed to a lot more than parents can imagine,” said Janet Wood, director of the division.
In a 2003 survey of high school students throughout the state, Wood said, 29 percent were already binge drinkers.
In Bochiechio’s case, his drug use became an issue after he dropped out of high school and left his mother’s home.
“I didn’t give her a chance to kick me out,” he said. “I just left.”
He had a job and an apartment, until he quit the first and lost the latter. After he called his mother and moved back home, she placed him in drug treatment – which he didn’t finish – so Lonnsburry kicked him out.
“I took a big gulp and had the locks changed,” she recalled. “It was horribly difficult to do. You want to take care of your kids, do things for them. But I couldn’t do this for him.”
Bochiechio turned to Urban Peak in Denver. Through it, he received his GED and recently completed his first semester of college at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
He now hopes to pass on what he’s learned to other youths.
“Sometimes, you need help,” Bochiechio said. “And no matter how bad and how hard your life gets, you can always turn it around.”
Staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at aherdy@denverpost.com or 303-820- 1752.
