February 18, 2000

Former Addicts Find a Home (and a Scholarship) at Texas Tech

By BEN GOSE

An unusual program helps students stay sober and get a degree

At age 7, Neil Hurta took his first drink, a shot of Wild Turkey poured by his father while they were deer hunting. He began smoking marijuana the same year, he says, and was snorting cocaine by eighth grade.

Mr. Hurta came here to Texas Tech University to get away from family and friends in Houston, who permitted and even encouraged the substance abuse. But the "drinkin' and druggin'" resumed with a fury during the

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