GEORGE CHUVALO SHARES FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS WITH WHITBY TEENS

WHITBY - George Chuvalo's huge heart was his calling card in decades of
heavyweight fights, when the Toronto boxer never once went down.

But the battles in the ring don't hold a candle to the horrible tragedies
the 65-year-old has endured in his family life. Between 1985 and 1996, Mr.
Chuvalo lost three sons, one to suicide and two to drug overdoses. He also
lost his first wife, who killed herself shortly after the death of her
second son in 1993.

Mr. Chuvalo came to Anderson Collegiate Wednesday to discuss first-hand
with students the impact drugs can have on families.

While all the deaths deeply wounded the tough ex-athlete, perhaps the most
tragic of all was the 1996 drug overdose of his third son, Steven.

Drugs had already taken Steven's brothers Jesse and George Lee and his
mother Lynn. Steven knew first-hand the horror of drug use and shared the
pain, shame and humiliation with his father, who realized this type of hard
truth was what young people needed to hear. Just after the video his father
made in 1996 about the family's profound losses, Steven put a needle into a
vein on Aug. 17, 1996 and was dead seven seconds later.

Mr. Chuvalo is left with just two surviving children, Mitchell and Vanessa.

"Steven told me things. He knew some things I didn't know," said the fit,
well-dressed man who held the Canadian heavyweight crown from 1958-79. But
opponents like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell
and Joe Frazier have nothing on the scourge of drugs the champion fights today.

A hushed gymnasium holding about 300 teens and staff listened intently as
Mr. Chuvalo pulled no punches. He told them how he would go looking for his
sons Jesse and George Lee in the seedy part of town. He shocked his
audience with physical descriptions of what his late sons went through in
their relentless quest to feed their addiction.

"My sons would crave heroin so bad," he explained. "When they saw the white
powder, the heroin, they would defecate in their drawers. Feces would be
running down their legs but only after injecting their waiting vein would
they clean themselves off.

"It hurts me to talk about my beautiful, handsome sons like that," he said.
"Only drugs can make you do that. Only drugs."

He was introduced to the school by Whitby-Ajax MPP Jim Flaherty, who called
Mr. Chuvalo a "great Canadian". The Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation
minister said he is aware of the drug problem in Ontario.

"About three per cent or 330,000 Ontario residents abuse drugs and 307
people died from drug overdoses in 2001," said Mr. Flaherty whose awareness
was heightened when he served as attorney general and solicitor general,
the ministry that also oversees correctional services. He was also an early
member of the Ontario Crime Control Commission, which sponsored the Jan. 8
forum. He was joined in Whitby by his Queen's Park colleague Frank
Mazzilli, MPP for London-Fanshawe and co-chairman of the crime control
commission.

"I also saw the tragic consequences of drugs as a lawyer," he added, "but
most of all I'm concerned as the father of three young boys."

As the video was shown to students, Mr. Chuvalo told media about the great
feedback he receives from his school visits. "I get stacks of letters," he
said. When asked his opinion on the recent controversy over a methadone
clinic located in downtown Oshawa, he said he hoped the
"not-in-my-backyard" attitude would change.

"We have to have compassion for those people who are afflicted," he said.
"If you don't have the understanding and think, 'That can't happen to my
family,' when it really can happen to anyone ... I don't care what your
socio-economic status is. I thought I was a good parent."

Following the video, he asked the students to think about his son Steven
who had participated in the video. "My son doesn't look like the
preconceived image people have of a drug addict. My son, to me, was sweet.
I love my son. I love my son. He was a nice person."

Website information

George Chuvalo was the reigning Canadian Heavyweight Boxing Champion for 21
years, from 1958 until 1979. He received the Order of Canada in 1998.

Today, Mr. Chuvalo speaks to students, parents and other groups about drugs
and how they have impacted his life.

For more information about Mr. Chuvalo and his fight against drugs, visit
www.fightagainstdrugs.ca.