CHAN DESCRIBES HOW HE ESCAPED DRUGS AND GANG CULTURE

Peter Shun Chi Chan warned a Richmond crowd about the perils of drugs,
Saturday.

Former Hong Kong gang leader Peter Shun Chi Chan would be dead today if the
policeman who got the drop on him hadn't dreaded paperwork.

During his teenage years, the keynote speaker at the "Fill in the Blank"
Drugs and Gang Conference in Richmond, Saturday, was constantly running
afoul of other gangs and the hard-nosed Hong Kong police.

During one sinful night, a policeman chased down Chan and pressed his gun
so hard into Chan's body that it left bruises for days afterwards. In spite
of the danger, and the pain, Chan fled the scene, escaping the officer's
clutches. The policeman could have gunned him down, but never pulled the
trigger.

Years later, after Chan left his gang, he met the policeman and talked with
him about that night.

"The police officer said, 'I was going to shoot you, but I didn't know how
to write the report, so I didn't,'" says the animated Chan - clearly
enjoying the story - through an interpreter. "Now cops (there) are better
educated. They don't mind writing essays. They might shoot people more often."

The former car thief, robber, drug dealer and extortionist entered Hong
Kong gang life when he was 13 or 14, just after his family had moved to
government housing in a tough new neighbourhood.

Like a second family, the gang provided him with a sense of belonging and
role models, in the form of gang leaders, whom Chan considered heroic.

At the time, four families, each controlling a different district,
masterminded Hong Kong's prolific drug trade.

In the district where he lived, Chan became not only a drug dealer, but
also a drug user. After puffing on joints, he moved on to serious narcotics
such as heroin, opium and LSD, paying for his expensive habit with the
proceeds from his drug sales.

Because of frequent turf wars, life as a gang member was dangerous. Still,
Chan rose through the ranks, reasoning he would be safer as a gang leader.
Not so. Other gangs started targeting him in gang fights.

"He was the one who got hacked a lot," explains Jackson Choi of Enoch Youth
Outreach Society, who interpreted for Chan.

To prove the point, Chan raises his hands to reveal scars from knives big
and small. A scar on his left ear commemorates a blow that glanced off his
neck and almost severed an artery. Fearing for his life, and generally
tiring of the Ginsu treatment, Chan left the gang.

"It wasn't difficult," Chan says. "Actually, (my) former gang leader has
said that the only thing that would be difficult was if you had a monetary
problem with the gang. If you really want to come clean, they will let you.
Because if he forces you to stay in the gang and you don't want to, you
might become a spy for the police. They might as well just let you go."

Chan was free, but he wasn't yet clean.

Finding a rehab centre, he quit drugs cold turkey, an accomplishment that
proved more difficult than leaving the gang.

"You can't control yourself," says Chan. "It feels like there are needles
poking you on your bones. You get diarrhea and throw up (for days on end)."

But Chan stuck with it. Once he was clean, he found religion and in time
became an anti-gang speaker and drug rehabilitation advisor in Southeast
Asia. Hong Kong moviemakers turned Chan's story into a film and he's
currently acting as an advisor for a John Woo-like film starring former
Vancouverites Nicholas Tse and Edison Chen.

As someone who's seen the effects of gang life and drug use, Chan offers
advice to teenagers on these topics. He tells them that even soft drugs
such as marijuana are dangerous because they can act as gateway drugs,
leading people to more serious addictions.

That was the pattern with Chan, who survived nine years of heroin
addiction, but has a serious liver problem to show for it.

Though Chan hasn't studied the gang and drug problems in Richmond, he feels
comfortable offering general advice to teens here: steer clear of unsafe
places and unpredictable people.

"There are places you should avoid," Chan says. "(When) you go to those
places, you notice the gangs, and they notice you, too. They will try to
get you involved. They will either come and intimidate you, or they will
get someone else to intimidate you, (then) come and save the day to lure
you in."

Drugs are in the same sorts of places, he says.

"Be careful of who you hang around with," he says. "And don't believe the
rumours that you won't get addicted, because you will."