Pubdate: Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Source: Richmond News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.richmond-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244
Author: Chris Miller

CHAN DESCRIBES HOW HE ESCAPED DRUGS AND GANG CULTURE

Peter Shun Chi Chan warned a Richmond crowd about the perils of drugs, 
Saturday.

Former Hong Kong gang leader Peter Shun Chi Chan would be dead today if the 
policeman who got the drop on him hadn't dreaded paperwork.

During his teenage years, the keynote speaker at the "Fill in the Blank" 
Drugs and Gang Conference in Richmond, Saturday, was constantly running 
afoul of other gangs and the hard-nosed Hong Kong police.

During one sinful night, a policeman chased down Chan and pressed his gun 
so hard into Chan's body that it left bruises for days afterwards. In spite 
of the danger, and the pain, Chan fled the scene, escaping the officer's 
clutches. The policeman could have gunned him down, but never pulled the 
trigger.

Years later, after Chan left his gang, he met the policeman and talked with 
him about that night.

"The police officer said, 'I was going to shoot you, but I didn't know how 
to write the report, so I didn't,'" says the animated Chan - clearly 
enjoying the story - through an interpreter. "Now cops (there) are better 
educated. They don't mind writing essays. They might shoot people more often."

The former car thief, robber, drug dealer and extortionist entered Hong 
Kong gang life when he was 13 or 14, just after his family had moved to 
government housing in a tough new neighbourhood.

Like a second family, the gang provided him with a sense of belonging and 
role models, in the form of gang leaders, whom Chan considered heroic.

At the time, four families, each controlling a different district, 
masterminded Hong Kong's prolific drug trade.

In the district where he lived, Chan became not only a drug dealer, but 
also a drug user. After puffing on joints, he moved on to serious narcotics 
such as heroin, opium and LSD, paying for his expensive habit with the 
proceeds from his drug sales.

Because of frequent turf wars, life as a gang member was dangerous. Still, 
Chan rose through the ranks, reasoning he would be safer as a gang leader. 
Not so. Other gangs started targeting him in gang fights.

"He was the one who got hacked a lot," explains Jackson Choi of Enoch Youth 
Outreach Society, who interpreted for Chan.

To prove the point, Chan raises his hands to reveal scars from knives big 
and small. A scar on his left ear commemorates a blow that glanced off his 
neck and almost severed an artery. Fearing for his life, and generally 
tiring of the Ginsu treatment, Chan left the gang.

"It wasn't difficult," Chan says. "Actually, (my) former gang leader has 
said that the only thing that would be difficult was if you had a monetary 
problem with the gang. If you really want to come clean, they will let you. 
Because if he forces you to stay in the gang and you don't want to, you 
might become a spy for the police. They might as well just let you go."

Chan was free, but he wasn't yet clean.

Finding a rehab centre, he quit drugs cold turkey, an accomplishment that 
proved more difficult than leaving the gang.

"You can't control yourself," says Chan. "It feels like there are needles 
poking you on your bones. You get diarrhea and throw up (for days on end)."

But Chan stuck with it. Once he was clean, he found religion and in time 
became an anti-gang speaker and drug rehabilitation advisor in Southeast 
Asia. Hong Kong moviemakers turned Chan's story into a film and he's 
currently acting as an advisor for a John Woo-like film starring former 
Vancouverites Nicholas Tse and Edison Chen.

As someone who's seen the effects of gang life and drug use, Chan offers 
advice to teenagers on these topics. He tells them that even soft drugs 
such as marijuana are dangerous because they can act as gateway drugs, 
leading people to more serious addictions.

That was the pattern with Chan, who survived nine years of heroin 
addiction, but has a serious liver problem to show for it.

Though Chan hasn't studied the gang and drug problems in Richmond, he feels 
comfortable offering general advice to teens here: steer clear of unsafe 
places and unpredictable people.

"There are places you should avoid," Chan says. "(When) you go to those 
places, you notice the gangs, and they notice you, too. They will try to 
get you involved. They will either come and intimidate you, or they will 
get someone else to intimidate you, (then) come and save the day to lure 
you in."

Drugs are in the same sorts of places, he says.

"Be careful of who you hang around with," he says. "And don't believe the 
rumours that you won't get addicted, because you will."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom