Pubdate: Wed, 10 Mar 2004
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 BC Newspaper Group and New Media Development
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Matthew Burrows

EX-ADDICT TELLS STUDENTS OF DRUG 'LIES'

Once Homeless, Joe Roberts Is Now The CEO Of His Own
Company

He came, he spoke, he conquered, and he got the T-shirt. Or make that
an H.D. Stafford Secondary school T-shirt, sweatshirt and signed
school annual.

The recipient of the merchandise and souvenir was millionaire CEO Joe
Roberts, but what he presented to the students in the way of his
90-minute assembly presentation and slide show on Thursday morning may
have been even more valuable.

Addressing 700 students of all stripes and backgrounds, Ontario-born
Roberts launched into his unflinching motivational topic "Stop the lie
about getting high."

In what amounted to a harrowing life history and a personal crusade of
kicking the drug habit, the born-again businessman revealed his past
life as a homeless addict on the Downtown Eastside in the 1980s, who
even stole from his own mother to feed his habit. He gave a
step-by-step list of 11 lies involving kids who could get in with the
wrong crowd.

He called it the Joe Shoeboogieman Story.

Although he says he had a "normal life in a normal house in a normal
street in a normal town," Roberts lost his father to a heart attack
when he was nine years old, and everything changed.

He began seeking out drugs to ease his pain. By 16, he was an
intravenous drug user and by 17 he was homeless. Even today, Roberts
says he is still haunted by the ghosts of alcohol and drug abuse, and
he is still affected by his former addictions.

But when he cleaned up on June 26, 1991, he stayed clean, and ended up
forming his own multimedia company, Mindware Design Communications.
Within four years he increased business by 800 per cent.

On Thursday, he wanted to help Stafford students "avoid making the
same mistakes" he made earlier in life.

"The bad news is that somebody in this city is going to seek out drugs
today for the very first time, and they may end up getting in a lot of
trouble," he said. "The good news is it doesn't have to be you."

Roberts' points sought to dispel what he felt were lies that lead to
problems, such as kids who tell themselves they don't fit in, that
they're only hurting themselves and that they'll never get into
serious drug and alcohol abuse.

"I thought I was in control and I thought I had choices, and I did," said
Roberts. "But once I had made those critical bad choices and behaved my way
into the lifestyle (of drinking and drugs), I had no more control."

Questions were thrown out to the Stafford students, some of whom
listened intently and others turned up their noses at various points.

"If I gave you $20, could you go out now and get drugs?" asked
Roberts, to which one student yelled, "Easily."

However, close to the end of the talk, to the chilling acoustic
soundtrack of Neil Young's Needle & The Damage Done, Roberts
introduced a real-life personal slant which rendered the hall speechless.

To demonstrate his renewed vigour and valuing of life, he showed
slides of a long list of dead friends who died of overdoses or
committed suicide.

Roberts admitted that, after showing the slide show to thousands of
students, "it still doesn't get any easier watching it."

For grade 11 student Morgan Brandt, who made the presentation to
Roberts at the end, this was the pinnacle in what he said was a "very
impressive" talk.

"I thought it was better than any other presentation put on at the
school," said Brandt, also a member of the student council. "When he
started showing all his friends, and he obviously had quite a few who
he's lost, that was a powerful picture."

Though he says he doesn't have a drug problem himself, the 16-year-old
said that, after seeing Roberts' talk, he would hope that he would
seek out help.

"If I was in that situation I would hope that I would," he said.

Harold Krisch, principal at HD Stafford, was pleased with the
presentation, and also spoke to Roberts about students coming forward
to help.

"He told me he's talked at a lot of schools, and he knows what to
expect (in terms of reaction)," he said. "He said there will be parts
that will strike a chord and will mean more students approaching
counsellors. He's told us to be ready for that."
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