REBELS PLAYERS HELP FIGHT DRUG USE

Players with the Red Deer Rebels are visiting Central Alberta schools
and telling kids about how making bad choices when it comes to drugs
can ruin your life.

Every year six Rebels players, accompanied by Red Deer city RCMP and
undercover drug officers in Vancouver, visit the East Hastings area.
Drug use is rampant there and the players see first hand how drugs can
destroy lives. It's called Project Keep Straight.

Defenseman Aaron Borejko was one of the Rebels players who spoke at a
recent Downtown Rotary luncheon. He described the Vancouver trip as an
"Eye-opener. I didn't expect to see anything like that. What startled
me was the openness of the drug use and the openness of the drug
addicts to talk about their lives. It's scary."

Josh Cowen, a Rebels right-winger, says visiting East Hastings made
him realize "How powerful addictions are. It's a disease. I feel I can
better understand it, but it's not easy.

"I hate needles, but I had to watch (a drug addict shoot up) even
though it grossed me out so much. But now I see that the extreme high
they get is why they do it. They'll do anything to support their
habit, the women sell themselves, it's all about the drugs, they can't
control themselves. Some kids get scared (when we describe the drug
use and lost lives) and some don't think it's real," he says.

"It's hard to tell them what it's like but if I can change one
person's life by telling these stories, I've done my job."

"When you see a guy shoot up heroin right in front of you, it's
disturbing to watch," says defenseman Justin Weller. "It's something I
never thought I'd see. I'm happy to relay the message (about what I
saw) to kids in Central Alberta schools if it will keep them off drugs."

Bryon Froese, who plays centre, says, "What I took from it, not
understanding why people are doing this, and not seeing anything like
it before, is that these people are just like you and me and the
realization that it could happen to anyone, people in your family, or
anybody really. It can happen from just one bad choice in life."

Assistant Rebels coach Chris Neiszner, a former Rebels player, made
the East Hastings trip himself a few years ago and says the hockey
players, as role models, can help make kids realize that leading a
drug-free life is important.