DISCOURSING ON A PERNICIOUS EVIL

St. Patrick's Day is approaching, so it was an appropriate time to hear
Irish-born Gerry and Julian Madigan's story at their Ray of Hope seminars
in Kimberley and Cranbrook this week.

And talk about the luck of the Irish. After listening to their moving,
often harrowing, and always inspiring account, you'd have to conclude that
Julian Madigan was very lucky indeed to get out of the drug culture alive.
Very lucky also to have the love of his father Gerry, as well as a support
network that included a sympathetic counsellor, police officer and running
coach.

East Kootenay youth and their parents have also been extremely lucky to
hear the Madigans speak at middle, junior and senior high schools in
Kimberley and Cranbrook, as well as at the Key City Theatre, where about
150 people turned out Tuesday night. The Ray of Hope seminars are sponsored
by P.A.R.T.Y. (the Cranbrook-based Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma
in Youth program).

Originally from Dublin and now based in Calgary, the Madigans speak about
how easy it is to get enmeshed in the drug culture, and how hard it is to
get out of it.

Gerry Madigan describes this drug culture as "the most pernicious evil that
exists in our society," adding that, while cigarettes and alcohol may kill
more people, drugs kill the best part of our youth - their uniqueness,
their drive, their ambition.

He should know. Julian was a promising athlete, a runner who had Olympic
dreams strong enough that he trained early in the morning and late in the
evening from the age of nine years on. But around age 13 something
happened. Julian started smoking the odd cigarette. He started drinking the
occasional beer.

Even then, he maintained he would never do drugs (leaving aside the point
that alcohol and nicotine are drugs in their own right). Still, it wasn't
long before a friend's offer and his own curiosity led him to try cannabis
(marijuana). At 15, he discovered raves and dance clubs, and the "road to
dependency" continued apace, through mushrooms and acid (LSD), to speed and
cocaine, and, his personal drug of choice, Ecstasy.

If you want to call it choice, that is. As a highly volatile and
idiosyncratic drug (you never know if it'll kill you or just get you high),
Ecstasy may be THE most dangerous drug around today, the Madigans believe.
It is classified as a methamphetamine that comes in tablet form complete
with trendy logos.

By 17, Julian was "stealing and dealing" to support his habit. Yes, he even
stole from his beloved grandmother. Shedied in 1993 and, of the many
consequences of Julian's "lost years," surely the most bitter is that he
was never able to make it up to her.

"The drug culture steals our children from us," said Gerry Madigan. It
stole the best part of his youth, Julian concurred, it stole friendships,
it stole ambition.

Today a triathlete and coach who swims, bikes and runs, Julian Madigan
won't likely be a contender at any Olympic Games. It's too late for that,
another consequence of his drug addiction.

Still, as I said, he is one of the lucky ones. He got married last summer,
and will become a father in September. He has written a book, called The
Agony of Ecstasy, and is in demand, with his father, on the lecture
circuit. Do these seminars make a difference?

Sometimes you wonder, sometimes you despair. Julian tells of leaving a
junior high school audience in the East Kootenays, only to see a girl in
the parking lot with a cigarette in one hand and a joint in the other.
This, just after hearing the "drug guy" talk.

Still, Julian has also received two dozen or so e-mails since he's been in
Cranbrook (and may receive more after his Kimberley appearances). These are
e-mails from kids reaching out for help, from kids saying they'll say "no
thanks" next time a tablet of Ecstasy is on offer, from kids saying they'll
talk to their parents about getting into rehab.

These are East Kootenay kids. These are our kids. Are we listening? The
Kimberley/Cranbrook phone number for the East Kootenay Alcohol and Drug
Counselling Service Society is 489-4344. Tell your kids you love them
today. And, if you need to, pick up the phone.