ADDICT DETAILS DESCENT INTO HELL

The sight and sound of Jade Bell is one of the most powerful anti-drug
messages that kids can get.

The 29-year-old former alcohol and drug addict is unable to walk or talk.
He's blind. He's confined to a wheelchair and communicates by tapping Morse
Code signals into a computer using switches on either side of his head. The
computer then amplifies Bell's message in a droning monotone.

On Friday at Pitt Meadows Secondary School, Bell told 450 Grade 8 and 9
students about his personal journey "walking down the path of
self-destruction."

Diagnosed with diabetes at age 12, Bell was an energetic youngster who used
to play guitar and soccer in his hometown of Coquitlam. But as young as age
13, he'd become an experienced drinker who could "down a case of beer and
still make it home." By age 15, he'd graduated to cocaine, later moving
onto heroin.

"Don't ask what drugs I did because I can't recall the ones I didn't do,"
Bell said to the hushed audience.

His drug habits got him kicked out of school. To support his habit, he
descended into a life of crime. He hit a particularly low point when he
found his best friend dead in a hotel room.

"You would think that I would have learned my lesson that night after I
found my best friend dead. But I didn't learn," Bell said.

On August 22, 1997, Bell overdosed on a combination of heroin and cocaine
which he took while drunk from alcohol. He experienced 15 minutes of oxygen
deprivation, before lapsing into a coma for a month. When he awoke, he was
paralyzed and blind. However, much to the medical community's surprise, he
didn't suffer any cognitive damage.

His life was still worth living but Bell admitted that at one point after
his overdose he felt he "didn't belong. I was too scared to live. Too
scared to die."

He now lives on his own - with the assistance of two caregivers - and
devotes himself to educating students on the dangers of drug abuse.

Bluntly telling his audience, "My existence now is anything but normal," he
added that whether students make the right choices after his presentation
"is up to you."

Bell, who was a Courage To Come Back award winner in 2002 and is also a
poet, has spoken to thousands of students about his descent into his
"self-made hell" in recent years.

"Be scared. Be very, very scared," Bell said, cautioning his audience about
drug use. "If you're using, get out before it's too late."

Narinder Nagra of Alouette Addiction Services, who is a school-based
substance abuse prevention coordinator, said Bell was brought to PMSS to
create awareness and education to the students of Pitt Meadows about the
different effects and information about drugs and alcohol.

"It was especially to hear Jade's story," she said. "It's so unique."

Nagra was scheduled to follow Bell's presentation with her own presentation
to students in their classrooms.