Pubdate: Mon, 21 Nov 2005
Source: Weekly Journal, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Transcontinental Media
Contact:  http://www.neighbourhoodnews.ca/journal
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3567
Author: Christina Davies

NORMAN JOHNSTON STUDENTS GET REAL-LIFE LESSONS ON DRUGS

Paul Christie makes it a point to 'be real'. As a recovering drug
addict, he dedicates his life to telling his very real, and very
moving, story to high school and elementary school students across
Ontario.

On Nov. 7, Christie's fall/winter Be Real tour made a stop at Norman
Johnston Alternate School in Blackburn Hamlet, where students got a
chance to hear the no-holds-barred account of Christie's descent into
drug use, and his inspirational recovery.

At the age of 17, the Fort Erie native was arrested on charges of
arson related to an incident 2 years earlier - he and a group of
friends had broken into some houses looking for liquor, and had
started a fire with the candles and matched they used. Christie was
already using heroin and cocaine by the time he was imprisoned, and
the years that followed would prove to be a downward spiral of drug
use, jail time, violence and depression lasting over 20 years. After
having previously failed at a suicide attempt by hanging, Christie was
in the midst of a second attempt in 1999 when instead, something told
him to put it off until the next day. When he awoke, he couldn't even
recognize himself in the mirror. He was a changed man, and he has been
clean ever since.

Today, Christie uses his life story to illustrate the dangers of drug
use. "The man on the street is not going to tell you all the
side-effects, because you'd say 'I don't want it.'" So Paul's made it
his mission to tell young people the honest truth about his life as an
addict. "I don't use any tactics; I just speak the truth and some of
these students I talked to today are going to stop doing drugs," said
Christie, "And at least one person will never start."

"If he can just reach one student, that's really all we can hope for,"
said teacher Jane Dempsey. It seemed he did just that, according to
student Wendy Smith. "It made me realize that I'd never want to be
anywhere near there...I've heard about this kind of stuff before, but
it was never as graphic as what he said." 18-year old Jeff Laflamme
identified with Christie's presentation, saying, "I've met people who
have done 15-, 16-pill binges, and they're not the same. They can't
think straight."

"As teachers, we recognize that there's definitely a growing problem
with drugs and alcohol in today's youth...and our school's no
different" explains Dempsey. Teacher Sally Collins agrees, saying, "I
think, similar to other schools, our students are at an age and a
place where they're having to face adult decisions, perhaps without
all the adult decision-making skills. This is one more person who they
can hear from, a person who's not on staff, who's not a teacher, but
who can tell them that this might not be a helpful choice in their
lives."
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