MAKING LAS VEGAS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Former drug dealer works to protect local students
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Former drug user hopes to teach kids the dangers of drinking and drug usage. Video by ktnv.com
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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Most parents wouldn't want a drug user or dealer anywhere near their kids. But Paulee Curan isn't dealing drugs anymore and he may be exactly the person you want talking to your kids.
We caught up to him at Western High School to see how he's making Las Vegas a better place to live. He speaks at 17 schools across Clark County, telling stories of drug addicts, dealers, and convicts. He ought to know, he was all three. "I used to wake up and do a fifth of Jack Daniels and a quarter gram of speed every morning."
In the audience, high school senior Leilani Erby listens closely so that she can become the teacher to her younger siblings. "Now they're targeting younger kids. So they get hooked. I want to prevent that and educate them. I want to teach them ways to protect them from it."
Paulee Curan teaches a drug free curriculum to middle and high school students around Clark County. He says these students are victims until they know better. After his week-long course, he says students who use aren't victims, they're volunteers."The idea is to stop these kids before they get hurt. There are people just waiting to use these kids."
Students like Kevin Saenz think this street-smart biker just might get through to his classmates. "After seeing all that they might realize it's not a good life. They should stay out of it." The curriculum Paulee uses is from a Foundation for a Drug-Free World. School administrators are hoping his real life experience will help him reach students who may otherwise tune the curriculum out.
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