REBELS' DRUG SQUAD SPEAKS OUT

The Red Deer Rebels Drug Squad has a message to get out to young
people that has nothing to do with hockey and everything to do with
making good choices.

Don't do drugs!

Six Red Deer Rebels, working in conjunction with Red Deer RCMP
officers on Project Keepstraight, are visiting schools within Central
Alberta to get this message out there.

A visit to skid row in Vancouver in mid October has given the Rebels
first hand knowledge of the hopeless life of a drug addict. And this
is the message they are doing their best to convey to students.

Rebels Carter Smith, Brennen Wray, Cody Gross, Cullen Morin, Cody
Esposito and Tyler Penny spoke to the Red Deer Rotary Club, Monday
about the experience of visiting Vancouver's downtown east side in
late October.

"The hotels there were disgusting," said Wray. "Three or four times I
gagged and almost threw up. There were dirty needles everywhere, rats
running around and the strong smell of urine."

Esposito talked about one addict who he met who had come from a good
home, was part owner of an oil company and had had a wife and five
daughters.

"He lost everything and hit rock bottom. It can happen to anyone if
they make the wrong choices," he said.

"They had dreams just like us and they made some wrong choices and
they ended up on skid row," added Morin, who talked about actually
watching someone inject heroine into his arm.

Twenty-year-old Smith who comes from Eyebrow, Saskatchewan said the
trip was the biggest shock of his life. "There's only so much you can
see from a tractor cab all your life," he joked.