Alvin Powell's crusade to prevent drug addiction

Marijuana. Cocaine. Heroin. Former NFL offensive lineman Alvin Powell has used them all, and those drugs nearly ended his life.

But now he talks to students about the dangers of drugs, and offers advice to addicts trying to overcome drug abuse.

The professional football player says he started using pot in high school, and started using harder drugs when his career with the Seattle Seahawks wasn't going as well as he planned.

"Things just progressed to the point where I was introduced to cocaine. I loved it, also. I was introduced to pills. I loved it, also. And it just progressed from there, and I woke up one day and found myself serving this master, and serving it well, and it became the priority over everything," said Powell.

His skills suffered under his drug use, and he was traded to Miami where he played just two games before being dumped by the NFL.

He tried to make beat his addiction and make a comeback in the short-lived World League of American Football, but a trip to play in Montreal ended with him getting into a brawl with hockey player Shayne Corson.

Powell was charged, convicted, and given "a slap on the wrist" sentence.

He walked out of the legal system and into a Montreal crackhouse where he was ready to end his life, were it not for the intervention of a group called Africans Against Drugs.

Going through a drug recovery program helped him change his life after losing his career and his family, and now he tries to help others as the Director of Services at the Saving Station Foundation.

In 2001 Powell, along with the father of another drug addict, creating the Saving Station Foundation to teach youth about drug addiction.

Powell counsels drug addicts, and gives regular talks in Montreal-area high schools and CEGEPs about the dangers of drug addiction.

He also travels throughout Canada to deliver anti-drug talks, and has travelled to B.C. and Nova Scotia.

He explains how drugs can make a person feel good and temporarily forget problems -- but how they don't help that person's life, and end up causing more problems than they could ever imagine.