GEORGE CHUVALO'S DRUG ABUSE MESSAGE STILL HITTING HOME

ELMSDALE - As he signs autographs for students following his
presentation at Westisle composite high, George Chuvalo asks
questions: How are you doing in school? Do you get along with your
Mom?

Here is this tough-as-nails former Canadian heavyweight boxing
champion who has just poured out his life story to more than 700
students, chatting with teenagers as if they are close relatives.

There's George Chuvalo who was never knocked off his feet in the ring.
It's told by video.

Then there's George Chuvalo, grieving father, telling of the loss of
three sons to heroin and a wife to grief.

This is the George Chuvalo who sat before the students and warned them
of the dangers of drug use. His youngest son first tried heroin as a
remedy for escaping pain from a motorcycle accident. He would be dead
from a self-inflicted gunshot within nine months. By then, his older
brothers were already addicted to heroin for five months.

Jail time and addiction treatment did not cure them.

"When you are a drug addict, you are so desperate you will do
desperate things," Chuvalo related.

Two of his sons robbed three drug stores in a span of 45 minutes for
which they were sentenced to two years in jail.

Grade 12 student Craig Williams heard Chuvalo's presentation twice
this week. "Every time you hear it, it seems to hit you more and
more," he said.

Dustin Murphy, Grade 10, heard the presentation three years ago, but
he acknowledged he is more aware of what goes on around him now. "It
has a lot more impact," he said, "when you see the chances of your
friends ending up like that are greater than you thought."

He said Chuvalo's presentation made it clear how easily drug addiction
can happen. "Anything as harmless as a cigarette can lead to that."

"It's like a chain reaction," Lauren Campbell added. "It shows how
blessed we are to have good circumstances, and sometimes we take it
for granted," the Grade 10 student added.

Chuvalo suggested that following his presentation he can usually spot
students impacted by his presentation.

Once in Ottawa, he said, a student bolted from a classroom and started
crying. The student had been selling drugs and hadn't realized the
harm he was causing. He said he would never sell drugs again.