Pubdate: Thu, 27 May 2010
Source: Oceanside Star (BC)
Copyright: 2010 Oceanside Star
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/oceansidestar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4880
Author: Brad Bird

'POT BAD': SKID ROW CEO

Joe Roberts grew up in a loving middle-class home in Midlands, Ont. 
- -- yet all it took were a few wrong choices in his teens and he ended 
up on skid row.

There was nothing his parents could have done differently to prevent 
his slide into drugs and crime, he told a joint meeting of the 
Qualicum Beach and Parksville Chambers of Commerce Thursday in the 
Qualicum Beach Civic Centre.

It was his own actions that got him in trouble, but others and his 
own efforts got him out of it, he told the 200 present.

Contrary to popular belief, "Pot isn't a harmless drug," he said, as 
it blurs the mind and makes it easier to slide into harder drugs 
while high on grass.

Sleeping under a bridge in Vancouver's east side, he got to the point 
where all he wanted was $10 for a fix. The day he hit rock bottom he 
sold his shoes. Then his family, whom he'd alienated, suggested he 
come home for a visit.

He returned to Ontario, went into rehab, enrolled in Loyalist 
College, graduated on the dean's list and got a job with Minolta 
selling photocopiers.

In the late 1990s he got in on the ground floor with a company that 
took off during the dot-com blitz and suddenly he was a rising CEO. 
By age 35 he'd made his first million and today he spends his time 
speaking to adults and kids in an effort to turn lives around. His 
fee for this speech went to a youth foundation, he said.

His advice was leavened by humour and self-effacement and Roberts 
connected with the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation.

Live a goal-oriented life. Make every day count. Negotiate what you 
want. There's more to you than you can see. "People will forget what 
you say and what you do, but people will never forget how you make 
them feel," he said.

At age 11 he met and shook the hand of Terry Fox as he ran his way 
across southern Ontario, and it left him with a residue of hope.

In July of 1991, living out of a shopping cart and sleeping under a 
bridge, he began looking "for the better part of me. I found it 
partly because of the better part of you," he said, honouring the 
help he got from others.

His book Don't Buy the Lie About Getting High exhorts youth to avoid 
the pitfalls that killed many of those he knew on skid row, and 
almost claimed him.

When one of the younger people in the audience, student Alicia Vanin, 
asked him what exactly we could do as individuals to inspire hope in 
others, he said: "Good question. The best thing we can do is lead by 
example. Get involved in volunteerism... Every single one of us has a 
story to tell and a passion... Get out there and get involved."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom