FORMER DRUG TRAFFICKER SHARES LIFE WITH QE

Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser -- His liver is three times its normal size,
his heart -- enlarged. The nose bleeds he experiences every morning are a
constant reminder of the days cocaine filled his nostrils.

Its a sordid past, but one Mike Ryan relives everyday, sharing his
tribulations in hopes of preventing or aiding youth in the fight against
addiction.

A slide depicting a 25-year-old Ryan during his drug trafficking days
illustrated a stark contrast to the balding and health-compromised man
standing before the students of Q.E. Junior High last week.

The photo was shot moments after Ryan was released from police custody
after facing 8 to 10 years for trafficking. The case was dropped due to a
technicality, and Ryan then viewed the entire situation as amusing.

In the picture, Ryan is smiling and appearing care free despite his
dangerous and sordid ties to the drug world.

"I thought it was a big joke," said Ryan upon reflection. "Back then I
thought the guy with the most toys was the biggest winner."

Women, money and material wealth are sought after by many in hopes of
achieving happiness, Ryan too believed his success was evident by such gains.

Women were not viewed as individuals but as toys, used to amused and
entertain. This perception quickly changed for Ryan when he learned one of
his former relationships resulted in a pregnancy, and subsequently a daughter.

"You need to understand, after Grade 8, boys think about one thing," said
Ryan, referring to the rush of hormones in puberty. "And girls, don't be
foolish and listen to them. I made a mistake and got a girl into trouble.
Now I have a daughter who is 31, who I did not meet until she was 18."

Once the nervous giggles from discussing puberty subsided, Ryan continued
to discuss the importance of refraining from sexual activity until an
individual is mature and responsible enough to deal with the consequences.

Returning to his life story, Ryan displayed a picture of himself at age 25
when the detrimental effects of drug use began to surface. A gaunt, thin
Ryan displaying the early stages of alopecia stands with a grin not yet
aware of the impending illnesses that lurked beneath his addiction.

"There is no drug known to man that doesn't have side effects," explained Ryan.

"Side effects are the damage done to the body. Cancer patients undergo
chemotherapy, which is chemical therapy used to kill cancer. "Chemotherapy
kills more than cancer but doctors hope it will kill all the cancer before
it kills you.

"Street drugs are the same thing, if you mix them. You don't have to do a
lot, just enough to make your liver toxic."

Ryan's liver weighs 25 pounds., his heart is one pound heavier than normal
and he suffers from diabetes, hepatitis C, early stage emphysema and
chronic nose bleeds.

Despite exercising religiously, Ryan's stomach appears distended to
encompass his enlarged organs.

"Whatever you do now in life is going to affect you later in life," warns
Ryan. "Today I treat my body with respect. I was damaging my body with drugs."

Aside from illness, threat of incarceration and drug-related violence began
a new reality for Ryan, yet he continued on his wreckless path. In an
effort to smuggle drugs from Columbia to North America, Ryan enlisted the
aid of five young women to transport the narcotics across the border via
their person.

Two of the five women were arrested when transferring planes in Venezuela,
each receiving a sentence of 20 years in prison.

The first woman died after five years in prison from malnutrition, the
second served 19 years before being stabbed to death in prison for the
equivalent of 35 cents worth of food.

"While these women were being arrested and sent to prison, I was sitting in
Barbados mad at one of the girls still with me for the two getting
arrested," reflects Ryan in disbelief.

By 1979, Ryan's weight continued to plummet exposing his drug use to the
world and he was charged with international conspiracy to smuggle drugs
into Canada.

Ryan also was married relatively soon following the charges, in an effort
to prevent a female associate from having to testify in his trial.

Failure to testify was vital as Ryan's associate was receiving death
threats and would have likely been killed if she had appeared in court. At
one point Ryan was caught with half a pound of cocaine, enough to kill the
entire student population before him, a startling fact to the teens who
reacted in disbelief.

"If 200 people took more than half a gram of cocaine, it would kill all of
them," said Ryan, illustrating the fatal effects of even a small dose.
"Crystal meth is easily as dangerous, only it takes one-eighth of a gram to
kill you. Heroine, all you'd need is a match head."

By this point Ryan's addiction was a $2,000-a-day habit, amounting to
almost $750,000 annually. Incarceration was inevitable.

"Jail is not a fun place to be. It's a very dangerous place," said Ryan,
dismissing the muted perception of jail Hollywood often promotes.

"I am not here to scare you, I am here to tell you the truth about drugs
and what it is all about."

Ryan was released in '90 -- never to return to prison or drugs. Although
Ryan never liked going to prison, he was previously without the tools he
needed to stay clean and sober. In 1988, Ryan began cleaning up and today
celebrates 17 years of sobriety.

After his release from prison, during a speech about addiction for junior
high students in Edmonton, Ryan learned the chilling fate of his friend and
former cellmate.

During the presentation, Ryan had displayed several photos of himself and
his associates in prison, one of which included the father of a student in
the audience. Once the student identified her father, she rushed out of the
room consumed by tears.

Once he was able to locate and calm the girl, he learned of her
relationship to the photo and that her father had died a mere two weeks
earlier of a drug overdose. The father had been released from prison
shortly prior to his death.

According to the student, her father sent her and her friend to play in the
basement. Once the girls were out of sight, the father injected himself
with heroine. Following what was described as the sound of a ball bouncing
on the upstairs floor, the girls returned to find the father convulsing,
foaming at the mouth and vomiting from an overdose with the needle still
stuck in his arm.

The sight will likely haunt the student for the remainder of her life, but
it is her words "my dad loved drugs more than me," that haunt Ryan and
illustrate the reality of drug use.

Today Ryan's narcotic regime has been replaced by medications to treat his
many aliments, a relatively mild punishment for a body pushed to the brink.

Memories of those who lost the battle to drugs haunt Ryan and also fuel the
reformed addict to continue his plight. Several factors aided Ryan in
staying clean including education and a concept called self talk. In 1992
following his graduation from Athabasca University, Ryan began the Clean
Scene program dedicated to educating youth about drugs and addiction.

"I wanted to make a difference by helping you stay clean and sober the
right way," said Ryan, directly addressing the students before him. "I love
my job and I love my life today. Everything is possible if you stay clean
and sober and use self talk."

In parting Ryan left the students to ponder the words of Nelson Mandela,
"As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically
liberates others."

For more information on Ryan and the Clean Scene program, go to
www.cleanscene.ca