Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers 39 What Can a Cop, Drug Dealer, and a Colombian Teach You? continued everything. He owned up to it all and took his four-year sentence like a champ. I knew on that day that I would be working with him in the future. I looked him up when he was out and asked if he would be interested in helping me reduce the demand of drugs, specifically by educating teenagers and their parents. He accepted the challenge and became the “drug dealer” in our series, “What Can a Cop, Drug Dealer, and Colombian Teach You?” As for the “Colombian”, I met George Barreras when I was asked to present at an EFAP meeting for the city of Saskatoon. I was told that someone was doing a drug presentation before me. Being, a young and relatively over-confident drug cop, I thought, who could possibly be more qualified to talk on this topic than me? I showed up early to watch George present and he blew my mind. He experienced great tragedy at the hand of the international drug trade, which he fostered into a passion for drug education that matched or possibly exceeded my own. He wrote a great book titled “Benjamin Walker and the Cash Transaction He Wished Never Occurred”. It is a great piece of fiction that has roots in non-fiction. A hundred dollar bill takes you through the drug trade from bottom to the top. After our presentations, we met for a coffee and the bromance was instant. George is an amazing human being. Very few people have the ability and desire to make a family’s great loss public in order to educate the masses. “What Can a Cop, Drug Dealer, and Colombian Teach You?” was created. I pitched the program to the Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers (SFPO) to see if every frontline police officer in the province was willing to support the initiative. Thankfully, they were and SFPO has been an incredible support both in guidance, as well as covering any expenses we incur. Our presentation had its first run in Saskatoon in December 2015. With nearly 300 people in attendance, it was a great success. I was flooded with positive feedback from teens, parents and professionals. Sayknow.org was created to bring an online presence to our initiative. It has featured blog posts about medicinal marihuana, teenage partying, and interviews with recovering addicts. Our mission is simple: Reduce the illicit drug trade by removing the demand. This means educating young people and their care givers, and guide those who are struggling with addiction to recovery.
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