He's been there: Boss strict on drugs, close to workers

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

ALIAMANU — Tyler Hahn's employees better come up with a good reason for being late or missing work at his flooring company: Hahn has told just about every lie there is to cover up 17 years of his own marijuana, heroin, cocaine and "ice" use.

Tyler Hahn of Aliamanu, who runs a flooring company, rents rooms in his home to employees and recovering drug addicts. It's a unique arrangement working, living and talking about problems together. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Now that he's in recovery and running his own business, Hahn has no tolerance for tardiness or deceit from his nine employees.

Hahn insists that each of them — including Hahn — submit to annual urine analysis and unannounced tests if he suspects a problem.

But Hahn's tough approach has a soft side.

Seven months ago, he bought a three story, eight-bedroom home in Aliamanu for $690,000, which he shares with three employees and three other recovering drug addicts.

At home, after work, they often eat together and talk over problems that could otherwise send them back into addiction.

"We support each other and we watch out for each other," Hahn said.

Hahn's workers and housemates asked not to be quoted.

L. Mason Henderson, CEO and clinic director of the Sand Island Treatment Center, who knows of Hahn, acknowledged that Hahn's role as employer, landlord, roommate and friend has the potential to become complicated. But such a complex arrangement can work successfully for Hahn and his workers, Henderson said.

"There's a concept called the element of identification, where someone who suffers from a problem themselves in many cases can communicate more clearly and readily with someone else that suffers from the same problem," Henderson said. "That's why programs like AA are so successful. There's a deeper degree of understanding and empathy and real world knowledge of what it takes to get better from somebody who's been there. ... A lot of folks didn't get really good role modeling on how to live a right life growing up. That's what Tyler provides."

If Hahn notices changes in his workers' behavior he first checks their pupils.

"If they're on opiates, their pupils will get real small, like pinholes," Hahn said. "If they're doing cocaine or ice, they'll look real big."

Out of three unannounced tests, one worker showed up positive. The others turned out to have legitimate problems at home.

"The best way to get rid of any suspicion is to take a UA (urine analysis) and that will tell the story," Hahn said.

Hahn's own descent into addiction began right after he graduated from Farrington High School and began smoking marijuana and popping Quaaludes.

"My friends did it, so I did it," said Hahn, now 49. "You know, you do whatever your friends do. They smoked (marijuana) so I ended up smoking."

And when his friends dabbled in acid and PCP, Hahn went along.

He joined the family flooring business run by his sister and liked the work. But by his early 20s, Hahn's drug use had reached the point that he was injecting heroin, mixed with cocaine.

Unlike many other addicts, not even ice came close to the euphoria that Hahn felt with the combination of heroin and cocaine.

"I have tried ice and I know a lot about it," Hahn said. "I just didn't enjoy staying up for days on end. It wasn't the feeling I like.

"Heroin was the best thing in the whole world," he said. "It made all of your pain go away. It would take away the sick. It would take away all the aches and pains. It would solve anything. With heroin, you can do one shot and not do it again for six, eight hours. But with cocaine, you want to do it every 15, 20 minutes. The want for that drug is so powerful. After the cocaine got involved, that presented a lot more problems."

Hahn repeatedly lied to his sister and "borrowed" the first of hundreds of thousands of dollars from her, his parents, his brothers and cousins to buy drugs.

"I wouldn't show up for work and my sister would question me and of course I would deny there was a problem," Hahn said. "I would make up any kind of story to borrow money — a lot of money. I would say I lost money gambling or I banged somebody's car and I had to pay for it. Any kind of excuse. It was disgusting. In the end I couldn't hide it anymore."

Hahn moved from job to job, often taking thousands of dollars worth of carpeting and other flooring to use for under-the-table cash jobs to pay for his drugs.

Whenever he was questioned about the disappearances by his various bosses at various companies, Hahn always went on the defensive.

"Whenever they asked, I would say, 'Prove it. Did anybody see me take it?' " Hahn said. "They knew the material was gone and that I was the only one in the shop, but they didn't see me take it. But they knew what was going on. So I would move on to another job.

"My mind really wasn't focused on them," Hahn said. "It was always about me. My mind was always focused on how I would get the drug, from when I got up in the morning to when I'd go to sleep at night. That's all that mattered."

Hahn began racking up the first of 62 arrests for shoplifting, gambling, bench warrants and paraphernalia and marijuana possession. He began reneging on drug deals, pawned his wife's wedding ring, cashed in their life insurance policies, took his mother's savings bonds and owed more money to family members than he could possibly repay.

"I was in deep trouble," Hahn said. "I stole from my wife. I took money from everybody, all for drugs. I was the screwup of the family and it came to a point where they didn't want to see me or anything. They wouldn't answer the phone if I called."

By the time Hahn checked himself into drug rehab, "the law was after me, the people that fronted me drugs (were) after me. I owed everybody money. My family disowned me. I couldn't see my kids and my wife had divorced me. I wanted to die."

One year after he stopped using drugs, Hahn found work again laying carpet and flooring and found people who were willing to take a chance on him again.

His family, ex-wife and two daughters are now back in Hahn's life. And they've even helped Hahn launch his own business and buy his new house.

And Hahn has learned to appreciate the efforts of his own workers.

"A lot of them are ice addicts, two were into heroin and cocaine, same as me," Hahn said. "But they're the best workers you can find anywhere. We're so close, we're just like family."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8085.