STUNNED SILENCE, THEN HUGS GREET JADE BELL

The bleachers were overflowing in the gym at Vanier Secondary School
Wednesday as the students listened in stunned silence to their special
speaker, Jade Bell.

Bell and his crew had travelled to the Valley in order to share the
28-year-old's story. Their goal: to help young people make sure they did
not walk the same path as he had; a path filled with destruction, drugs
and, in particular, heroin.

Confined to a wheelchair, blind and unable to talk -- with only partial use
of his limbs -- the once athletic man has a powerful message to tell; the
message of his self-made hell.

On Aug, 22, 1997 Bell overdosed on heroin for the fifth time. His body was
deprived of oxygen for 15 minutes, leaving him with a perfectly functioning
brain trapped in what he calls the "coffin" of his body.

To communicate, Bell relies on a computer. He inputs words in Morse Code,
using switches on either side of his head to tap in signals which the
computer delivers in dry mechanical monotone.

It took him three weeks at 10 hours a day to write the speech given to the
Vanier students.

Not many can attest to dry eyes during Bell's presentation, which included
a graphic video "The Wrath of the Dragon."

The video shows the horrible conditions drug addicts live in and the
average day in the life of a junkie.

"It's not fun waking up shitting and puking every morning," an addict says.
"We know people are out there dying, but who cares."

Girls and boys tell it like it is, what heroin brings. Finding friends
dead, working the streets as a prostitute to get enough money for a fix or
watching people walk by not giving a damn -- the video shows it all.

"It only takes once, once is too many times, 10,000 times is not enough."

Displayed on a screen behind Bell, his speech flows by the audience, all
spellbound as they listen and watch.

"I believe you are here to learn a lesson. I have learned many lessons from
my experiences," he said. "You should be horrified." Bell tells his life's
journey of drugs, story which started at the age of 11 when he began
smoking and drinking alcohol.

He says he took his first injection of heroin at the age of 21. That year
he experienced two overdoses and found his best friend dead in a scummy
hotel room.

"I still didn't learn," he said.

When, at the end of his talk Bell asked how many of students knew of
someone that was using hard drugs, a shocking number of hands went up
bringing nervous laughter to the hushed gym.

The hour-long session ended with many of the students coming forward to
talk to Bell. It became a place of acceptance, love and tears.

After hugging Bell and giving him a kiss on the cheek, teary Grade 10
student Audery Buisman joined her friends saying Bell's message makes you
think twice.

Bell was brought to several Courtenay schools by the Community Drug Srategy
Committee, who, last night, also brought in former heavyweight champion
George Chuvalo to speak about the dangers of substance abuse. Read about
that in Wednesday's Record.