HE KNOWS ABOUT THE LOWS OF GETTING HIGH, AND HE'S SHARING

Noel Tierney talks funny.

Maybe you can attribute that to his Australian accent and his resemblance
to wiry comedian George Carlin.

Mr. Tierney also talks openly and honestly about a drug problem he once
had, an addiction that nearly wrecked his life. He went from being a
glamorous TV producer and announcer in Australia to a penniless,
middle-aged man.

"I had it all," said Mr. Tierney. "I had the big house with the swimming
pool, a good career - and I let it all slip away."

Credit his frank dialogue to his desire to educate young people about the
dangers of drugs. His message is powerful because he's not harping about
the pitfalls of heroin or crack cocaine. He's railing against marijuana, a
drug that he said too many people still regard as harmless.

Mr. Tierney said he was drug-free as a youngster. "I didn't start smoking
pot until I was 24," he said. Unfortunately, he liked it so much that he
started smoking it every day. "Once I had my first one, I loved it," he
said. "I was hooked from day one."

For the next 25 years, he said, he smoked an ounce a day. "By now," he
said, looking at the 10:45 a.m. reading on a clock in his Farmers Branch
apartment, "I would have smoked five or six joints, and I would have
expected to do this interview with you."

In other words, he said, he thought he could get high every day and still
function normally. The sad part, he acknowledged, is that he smoked pot in
front of his children, who all are grown now.

"Luckily, only one" of his four children used drugs, he said. "I thought it
was OK at the time. There's this myth that marijuana is a harmless drug -
that's ridiculous. I've had people tell people, 'Listen, mate, I can stop
smoking any time I feel like it. I'm not addicted.' But they always come up
with an excuse for not quitting."

Mr. Tierney said drug use usually is a plea for help, an "escape."

"So the challenge with kids [who may be experimenting with drugs] is to
figure out why they are trying to escape reality," he said. "What is it in
their lives that they can't deal with? What are the underlying problems?"

Mr. Tierney said he didn't deal with his own problems until late 1996,
after "I found myself with a hunting knife to my chest, within seconds of
plunging it into my heart."

Then he thought about his children. "At this point, I decided the marijuana
had taken my home, my wife, my money and the respect of my children," he
said. "So I was damned if it was going to take my life."

He said he sought out a psychiatrist and checked himself into a
rehabilitation clinic. It was through counseling that he began to
acknowledge his personal demons.

His young mother had given him up in an informal adoption to a next-door
neighbor shortly after he was born, he said. He started drinking heavily as
a teenager, and alcohol satisfied him until he discovered marijuana.

He's come a long way since then, including a move to America. Now he's
using his broadcast and public-speaking skills to reach out to youngsters.
He's worked with several local organizations that deal with homeless or
troubled children.

He's created two video projects - "Troubled Teen TV" and "The Lows of
Getting High" - to help spread his message. But the really big project that
he's trying to pull together is an animated educational video called "D is
For Drugs," which he said will feature the well-known Dr. Patch Adams.

"I feel better now than I have in my 54 years," he said, noting that he
developed emphysema from smoking so much marijuana. "I just pray that God
graces me with the time to finish this project."

Creating a feature-length, animated video takes time and money, he said.
He's searching for funds to help him finish it. You can check out his work
at www.disfordrugs.org or call him at 972-788-2348 if you would like for
him to speak to your group.