Former drug boss now saving lives, not ruining them
Violent, dark past is perfect tool to reach others struggling with addictions, crime
Today when he goes out onto the streets, Cody Bates sells hope instead of drugs. He looks for fellow followers of Christ, rather than potential gang members. And, he wants to save lives, rather than take them.
Yes, the past 12 months have been quite remarkable for the convicted killer and former drug lord of Calgary.
A year ago, after coming close to taking his own life, Bates took a new-found acceptance of Jesus Christ onto the infamous streets of East Hastings in Vancouver — an area notorious for its drug culture, hopelessness and sky-high death rate linked to the opioid crisis that’s now a national epidemic.
Following a life of drugs, violence, prison, easy money and hard choices, Bates changed his life into one of acceptance, repentance and rebirth as an evangelical follower of Christ. After his story first appeared in the Calgary Herald 11 months ago, Bates discovered a world willing to believe his conversion and not only give him another chance, but consider him a role model for others.
So today, Bates is preparing to repeat his Christmas on Hastings project, one he single-handedly launched in 2017. This time around he has lots of help.
“Last year was about me bending the knee and going down there on my own and getting my feet wet,” he says. “This year, I am going down with resources so that if someone wants to get out, we can give them that chance. Sometimes the difference between life and death is just someone coming along and loving them.”
Bates, along with about 80 volunteers, is arranging a range of help options for those down on their luck: turkey dinners, free haircuts, cellphone access for those who want to call long-lost family, and toys, along with accompanying postage, for any parents wanting to reconnect with a child they left behind. He will make Pigeon Park on Hastings his makeshift headquarters from December 19 to 26.
This second Christmas On Hastings project is the culmination of a frantic year, one Bates still has difficulty coming to grips with.
“After the Herald article appeared, it created an avalanche of emails and messages from people all over the world proposing opportunities to utilize my story and my gifts,” Bates says. “One such invitation was an offer to travel the world and minister in the most dangerous prisons on the planet.
“It was super cool. Every day was exciting, having incredible new possibilities put in front of me,” he says. “But something didn’t sit right inside me about leaving to travel and help people around the world, especially when I once had a sad hand in destroying thousands of peoples’ lives right here where we live.
“The addiction epidemic in this country is in desperate need of answers,” Bates continues.
“So, I set out from bible college to share the good news with as many people as possible,” says the man who once ran Calgary’s biggest cocaine ring and was jailed for his part in the killing of a rival.
For the past year, Bates has been part of a discipleship program at the Teen Challenge facility in Kelowna. Despite its name — a throwback to its origins in New York 60 years ago — the centre caters mainly to adults and Bates has found many who relate to what he went through.
Now, with the blessing of that centre, he travels the country, speaking to a host of agencies, treatment centres and individuals who see something of themselves in this former addict and inmate.
“One thing has been made prudently clear to me in my short walk with Christ, and that (is) my dark past is the greatest tool I have to reach people,” Bates says. “I have been blessed with a unique advantage by how many people drop their guard when I speak.
“Hardened addicts and criminals give me their complete attention. When I share my testimony with someone it takes away all excuses. I was a convicted killer, a notorious gangster, a diagnosed sociopath and an out-of-control drug addict,” he says.
While it has been an exciting year, it has also brought tragedy.
In April, Bates received an urgent call. His best friend Avery Neufeld was in trouble back in Calgary. He drove back to his hometown but arrived too late; his pal had died from an opioid overdose.
“Avery died while I was on my way to get him. If he had lived past that one more needle, he would be alive today. That is the world we are dealing with,” he says.
In honour of his friend, Bates now designates any ministry he performs as part of the umbrella collective name “The Avery Project.” And, he is now a published author. His book, The Devil’s Pupil, has just been published by the Christian publishing group, Word Alive Press.
“It’s a raw look at how I got involved in drugs and gangs. I hope it will be an interesting read for a lot of people. Anyone wondering what it is like inside a maximumsecurity prison, well, you will get a full dose (of that) and building a cocaine empire, and why I did everything I did,” he says.
“Hey, it was never about the money. It was about the escape and drugs were the only things that relieved me. For someone that doesn’t understand addiction, this is who my book is meant for. They read it, then put it down, and then hopefully say to themselves: ‘Now I get it.’”