ADDICTION HAS NO SYMPATHY

Shaun Jones was selling cocaine for Kelowna's queen of the drug trade
when he had to place his hand on a red-hot stove element.

He entered her kitchen to find a group of thugs standing next to the
stove. Eighty dollars worth of coke was missing, and they accused
Jones of stealing it.

They gave him a choice - put his hand on the burning-hot element or
get stabbed in his side. He touched the fiery coil with his open palm
and pulled it away. For his boss and accusers, that was not good enough.

"They held my hand on the burner. I smelled the burning flesh. My
hand ballooned up. Later, they found the missing coke. I kept working
for her," he said.

Jones, 41, has been clean since late 2005, when he entered detox.
Later, he joined a 12-month Teen Challenge recovery program. Now
married, he has shared his story with nearly 5,000 Central Okanagan
students. His message - dealers don't care about you, they just want
your money.

"They'd sell their girlfriend for a debt," he told 20 Grade 10
students at Rutland Senior Secondary last week. "You become
cold-hearted. I worked on a grow op in Surrey and sprayed the plants
with crystal meth to get you addicted."

Jones was sexually abused as a child, but it took him 30 years to
talk about it. He started smoking pot in Grade 7. At age 15, he
caught his older brother sticking a needle into his arm. His pot use
and drinking escalated to the point he was kicked out of three school
counties in Ontario.

His good friends drifted away.

Jones held up his first gas station at 17 to impress his brother. He
attempted suicide. He became a heroin junkie. He spent time in a
psychiatric ward. Police arrested him for stripping outside City Hall.

Drug dealers shot and dismembered one friend, Jody Elliott. Another
buddy was stabbed in a park over $40. He went for help holding in his insides.

"Do you think he knew that would happen when he started using drugs?"
Jones asked the students.

"Dealers don't care. You'll rip off your family. They'll lose trust
in you. The only ones who like you are the ones (using drugs), too.
The drug has you under control. You don't control the drug."

Two younger recovering addicts also spoke to the class. Justin
Webster, 19, drank heavily, smoked pot and dropped out of school in
Grade 10. He became hooked on cocaine and crack. He joined a recovery
program after spending time behind bars for robbery.

"Summer's coming, so you'll be drinking and partying," Wester told
the class. "These decisions will affect you the rest of your life."

Mark Dekoning, 25, was a gambling addict and nearly died from drug
use. Friends were killed in car crashes. Others overdosed and are now
"vegetables," he said. He has since graduated from a recovery program.

Girls have a harder time kicking their habits because men enable them
to continue using drugs, Dekoning said.

"When guys are down and out, they're alone. Girls can find other men.
There are way more men's recovery centres than women's."

Students who listened to the hour-long presentation say they got the
message. Krista, 16, knows "quite a few" people who smoke marijuana
and have moved on to ecstasy, cocaine and magic mushrooms.

"I used to be friends with a lot of people. It seems some old friends
have taken their own paths and are doing other drugs," she said. "I
don't associate with them anymore."

Steph, also 16, has friends who smoke pot and drink regularly.

"This talk made me realize bad stuff could happen to them," she said.
"They say they'll stop but it could lead to other drugs."