REFORMED DRUGGIE'S HARSH MESSAGE

To the editor:

I came up to Kelowna after being asked to come by [a school] because
some time in December, 2008 there were eight students who were busted
with drugs in their lockers.

I was told when the bust was described to me that one student had
enough pot to feed the whole school for a month. Other parents we
were introduced to said they were told by their own kids that some
kids are running around with crystal meth, kids at the school pack
ecstasy pills in their ball caps and they all smoke dope at a gravel
pit behind the school in a vacant field which was pointed out to me
and my friend Marvin as we drove to the school on March 3 to do the
presentation.

I am so sorry if I offended anyone. I have been doing this same
presentations through-out the province since 2005 and have done many
schools, community centers and tours in Downtown East Side. I am a
product of the environment and I have lived a life of wrong choices
and today I have a message. There is no room for Band-Aids or candy
coating or being over-protective when drugs and crime are killing our
kids. Now I have a desire and that is to save the lives of kids, to
send a message that if you choose to make a wrong choice you could
and most likely will, end up like this.

If 50 kids hear me and one child hears something, it's well worth it.

I admit the language is bad and the images are horrible, each person
in the show was someone's baby girl or baby boy and all they did was
make a bad choice.

There is only one way to show this show and that is with the truth.
It does not hurt anyone, it's going to save a life, so why let me
show half of it and then shut it down because it offended you? A few
of the comments from the principal was: ".this is not for our kids,"
".these kids are not like this," and ".these kids are not ready for
this," as he told me to shut the show down.

I suggest they open their eyes to addiction and how it is caused and
to listen to the needs of the students. I would come back in a minute
to show the show, which I feel the kids need to know.

Stan Mingo,

Vancouver