STUDENTS GIVEN STRAIGHT TALK ON ALCOHOL, DRUGS

A no holds barred Smart Youth Power Assembly presentation on the
perils of drinking and driving and substance abuse took place at St.
Joseph's Collegiate Thursday morning.

Students, police and ambulance personnel listened to former paramedic
Norbert Georget describe what can happen when an individual chooses to
drink and drive or use drugs.

Nothing was left to the imagination for students through the use of
video. Students were told how Georget visited a prison to see a
student who had been convicted of killing a former student at his
school in a drinking and driving accident. The student had asked to
see him after learning he was making presentations on drinking and
driving that included him.

The 17-year-old admitted he deserved to be in jail for what he had
done and said he wished it had been him who was killed.

In another case, a young teenage boy and his girlfriend were at a
party. He was drinking while she was not and the girlfriend had the
car keys. The boyfriend wanted the keys back and she finally relented.
The two jumped into the car, he ended up crossing the center line
going around a curve and an accident followed in which the girlfriend
was killed.

Georget showed a picture of what a vehicle looks like when it collides
with another doing 120km. Students were then startled when a loud bang
echoed through the gymnasium to indicate what it sounded like when two
vehicles collide at a high rate of speed.

The House of Commons justice committee is currently considering
lowering the blood alcohol level for the criminal code to .05.

The theme then shifted to showing a video on what happens to an
individual who chooses to use drugs like crystal meth. Most of the
drug users in the video could not stand still. One individual had lost
her teeth through using drugs, another young female lost a promising
future and a male who was trying to get off crystal meth committed
suicide.

"I was 15 years old and I was a happy kid. I loved my life. I had all
the potential in the world, huge dreams and a million goals. But I
made a decision to try crystal meth and it took everything away from
me. I lost it all."

Another drug user said people who try crystal meth will go crazy first
and then die.

Gorget concluded his presentation by asking a student to come up and
examine a body bag. Georget travels the country throughout the year
doing an average of 150 presentations. The Saskatoon resident said the
traveling is the hardest part.

"The speaking is what keeps me going because once I am in front of a
crowd, most of the students are very receptive like they were today.
Sometimes you get some tough crowds but that is what I am there for,
to make a difference with them."

A lot of the information presented to students comes from police
departments and ambulance personnel. Georget is handed pictures of
accident scenes by police throughout the country but a lot of the
stories are from the kids.

"They are the ones who designed the whole presentation. They literally
designed it to show more pictures and get rid of statistics."

One student suggested he bring a body bag with him for presentations
and he decided to do it. "I started listening to students and I became
a lot more successful by listening to them." Georget has been making
presentations for 26 years. Some people have asked him when he thinks
he might retire.

"The day I don't believe what I am talking about is the day I quit
because it is not fair to me and them. They will be able to tell that
I don't have the passion behind it anymore and I still have the passion."

Georget became involved in making presentations at the suggestion of
another paramedic. He said he was a complainer and complained about
having to go to another shooting, drunk driving call and other calls.
One day his partner suggested he do something about it so he went to
his home town and spoke to former students he knew there.

"What turned into a hobby doing these for four years turned into a
full-time thing. This is my 22nd year full-time."