STANDING on an empty football pitch, Peter Chan Shun-chi opened his mouth and screamed. He howled because he was angry, desperate and consumed with grief. Hurling a syringe to the turf, the 21-year-old vowed to start afresh. The year was 1970 and Chan had just left his father's deathbed where the sick schoolteacher had stared for the last time into the hard, heroin-raddled face of a stranger. Self-pity mixed with guilt as Chan turned back and searched for his lifeline. The plastic syringe was still intact: he was ready for his next hit.
For nine years, Chan ruled the streets of Tsz Wan Shan with an iron fist. As a Big Brother within the 14K triad organisation, Chan had chopped, robbed and beaten his way through the ranks to lead his own unit at 16. Then he found God, changed his life, and went looking for victims again; this time to help them beat drugs. Now a successful businessman with stakes in an optical shop and an accountancy firm, he plows some of the money back into his campaign against drugs and works voluntarily as a director of a rehabilitation centre for drug-addicted youth.
It is the stuff movies are made of and Chan's story has proved irresistible to film-makers. Those Were The Days, based on Chan's life and starring Malaysian singer Eric Moo Chii Yuan , is to be released next month. 'It's about 70 per cent true to life,' says Chan, who was a consultant to the production. 'It conveys a very positive message to young people.' Chan and David Siu Chi-kong, 39, one of the addicts Chan helped to rehabilitate, hope its anti-drugs message will reach a wider audience among the young triad members of Hong Kong.
They are not alone in their fight against drugs. Earlier this month, Governor Chris Patten, at a three-hour summit meeting on drug abuse to which Chan was invited, pledged $30 million to help combat the problem. He listened intently while the Commissioner for Narcotics revealed that the number of under 21-year-olds abusing drugs has increased by 147 per cent in the last five years. None of this was news to Chan.
'When it comes to drugs, kids these days know so much. One of the many 12-year-olds I've helped told me he not only knew how to take heroin but he also knew how to prepare it,' says the 46-year-old businessman and convicted criminal. 'What they need is more information on how to avoid the temptation of trying out drugs ... it's the first hit that destroys their lives.' 'I'm sad to say that it is very easy for people to make money from the troubles of the young,' says Siu. 'Both LSD and amphetamines can be bought from any medicine shop and heroin is as easily available now as it was 20 years ago. I think the problem is going to get worse. Adults are concentrating on earning more money and there will be a general lack of concern for adolescents in the next few years. Young people will be tempted to avoid the pressure and conflict of their upset emotions by turning to drugs.' CHAN joined the 14K 'for protection'. He dropped out of school and left home at 12, hoping to make some money for the family he described as 'loving, but very poor'. 'I didn't get very far,' says Chan. 'I hadn't paid much attention at school because I wanted to be out there earning money, but I was so young I just kept getting into fights and would get beaten up.
'People think that when they join the triads they will be protected and feel secure but that's just not true. I had to fight my way up to show my strength before I got any respect,' he says. As a result, Chan's extensive criminal record spans 'general triad activity': mugging, robbery, skipping bail and possession of heroin, which he started taking at 16.