The following article was published on the front page of the London Free Press on Thursday, February 25, 2010. Many thanks to reporter Randy Richmond - the best darn news writer we know.

Drawing the Right Conclusion -

The seeds of his destruction and his salvation took root early in John Sewell's life.

By the time he was a teenager, the Londoner was drawing comic book covers and taking art at H.B. Beal secondary school.

He was also a drummer in a rock band, playing and drinking underage in city bars.

In summers he worked in the factory, and in Grade 13, worked full time while going to school.

"I was just a wild man, a maniac, just a nut. Just to pick up chicks, I picked up the drums. I was making $250 a week in the factory and I was the most popular guy in high school."

By the time Sewell hit his 40s, he had largely turned his back on art, and spent all the money he made at the factory on drugs bought at the same factory.

"I couldn't get normal. I was working seven days a week just to afford the drugs. I'd go into work and if there were no drugs, I couldn't work. I'd go home."

Now 48, his factory job gone, the pills gone, Sewell is returning to art in the hope it can save young people from going down the same path he did.

About 15,000 copies of a graphic novel-style booklet, featuring Sewell's drawings, should begin reaching local students and youth agencies in the next few weeks.

What do pirates, tea, Hong Kong, heroin and Oxys share in common? is the brainchild of Dr. John Craven, associate director of Clinic 528, a London methadone treatment centre for painkiller addicts.

Craven also runs SupportNet.ca that provides resources to individuals and agencies fighting addiction.

He asked Sewell to create a poster on drug addiction for high school students.

When Craven saw the result, which now graces the back cover of the booklet, he knew he had found the artist for a comic book he'd been wanting to write.

Reaction to the first 300 copies printed has convinced Craven to get another 15,000 copies made, and put the book online.

"We just want to get the message out there," he said. "The book is informative and entertaining."

In comic book style, the booklet explains the origins and destructive power of painkillers, but also offers hope of recovery.

Clinic 528 and the London Medical Pharmacy paid to print the booklets, which will be distributed free to youth agencies and schools.

"A lot of people when they get into trouble with this stuff they feel alone, that there is no one to turn to," Sewell said.

"There is a lot of pain and suffering involved in addiction. Hopefully that comic book conveys that."

Sewell knows what he is talking about.

He drank and took a variety of pills while working in factories most of his life.

"I was a garbage can. I'd take anything, do anything."

As he approached his 40s, he realized he'd had enough and checked into rehab for alcoholism.

Sewell kicked booze, but replaced drinking with Oxycontin, the oxycodone-based painkiller that had spread through factories.

"I thought, 'As long as I'm not drinking, I'm fine.' The next thing I knew I was addicted like crazy."

All around, he saw addicts and dealers.

"Guys who didn't even smoke pot or anything like that got in trouble with that drug."

Within a year, he was spending $1,000 to $1,500 a week on Oxys.

"I was making $60,000 a year. I couldn't afford a pack of cigarettes."

He managed to keep his job and his apartment, but his sanity was being ripped apart. "It is a horrifying way to live. When you can't get it you just can't function.

In 2003, Sewell signed up with Clinic 528, and he's been clean of Oxy since -- even while losing his job three years ago, a victim of auto industry downsizing.

With time on his hands, he has taken up art again. He's painting each original page of the comic book so a colour, e-version can go online.

"We're hoping like hell it keeps these kids away from drugs. Even if it keeps one kid away, it's worth it," Sewell said. "I always wanted to do a whole comic book. This is a legacy to leave behind."