CHUVALO SPEAKS OUT AGAINST DRUG ABUSE

In 21 years as a boxer, George Chuvalo developed a reputation as one of the
hardest punchers and toughest competitors ever to step into the ring.

Chuvalo, 62, retired from boxing more than two decades ago, but the former
Canadian heavyweight champion proved Wednesday he can still deliver a
knockout punch.

For one hour, Chuvalo told a hushed and attentive student body at Queen Mary
School in St. Catharines about the horrors and evils of drug addiction, how
drugs took the lives of three of his children, and ultimately his wife Lynn,
who committed suicide, unable to bear the pain any longer.

"It is insane to do drugs," Chuvalo said. "Why would anyone do that to
themselves? You'd have to hate yourself to do that."

Clad in dark dress pants and a dark shirt, Chuvalo, still powerfully built
although overweight, parked himself on a small desk at the front of the
gymnasium and delivered a monotone, non-stop, gut-wrenching tale of the hell
his family went through as a result of drugs.

Chuvalo's youngest son, Jesse, committed suicide, his body unable to cope
with the demons of heroin. Two other sons, Georgey and Steven, died with
syringes in their arms, their lives literally ruled by their obsession with
drugs.

And as if that wasn't tragic enough, two days after Steven's funeral,
Chuvalo's wife Lynn took an overdose of pills and died in Steven's bed in
the Chuvalo home near Toronto.

All that grief, all that heartache and misery because of drugs.

"I don't want anyone to go through that," Chuvalo said.

"I was bed-ridden for a month-and-a-half. I couldn't get out of bed. Every
breath I took was in misery."

Before Chuvalo delivered his speech, students were shown a five-year-old
video of his life story.

Chuvalo didn't watch, preferring to stay in the hallway rather than relive
the horrors all over again. When he finally did make his way into the gym,
the pain and anguish on his face were unmistakable.

"I still get emotional," he said.

Chuvalo told the students, often in gory, explicit detail, how drugs
ultimately got the better of his three sons.

"They would get so strung out," he said. "They would do anything for drugs."

Chuvalo recounted one incident where he found Steven at a veterinary clinic
in Guelph with a rock in his hand. Unable to find drugs anywhere, he was
trying to break into the building to get animal tranquilizers to try to calm
himself down.

"When I saw that, I broke down," Chuvalo said. "Tears were streaming down my
face."

Another time, Chuvalo said Steven had overdosed -- at one point he overdosed
15 times in one month -- and was brought back from near death. Upon his
revival, Steven proceeded to attack his doctor and run out into the cold of
the winter wearing only a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and one sock, in search
of more drugs.

Perhaps the most shocking -- and sickening story -- was how both Steven and
Georgey would get so desperate for drugs they would literally defecate in
their pants at the site of drugs.

"They would crap their pants at the site of smack," he said. "It still makes
me sick to my stomach."

At times Chuvalo's message seemed to be a bit heavy, but he summed up his
talk on a warmer note.

"If it wasn't for love, I wouldn't be here now," he said. "The three most
important words in the language are 'I love you. ' "

Chuvalo also spoke to students at Westdale and Oakridge schools Wednesday as
part of an extensive, region-wide program.

Sponsored by the Wise Guys Charity Fund, the organization's goal is to have
Chuvalo speak to as many students Grade 7 through 10 as possible -- about
24,000 all together -- to deliver his message.

In 1998, Chuvalo was awarded with The Order of Canada medal in recognition
of his work and dedication to Canada's youth.