Please read.. New Danger For Our Kids

[grandmatoall]

> Please read... I am not one to pass things along but if this is true it
> needs to be known.
>
>
> Latest Drug in Middle School - Dusting
>
> First, I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name
> is Jeff. I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for
> it's crime rate. We have a lot of gangs and drugs. At one point we were
> # 2 in the nation in homicides per capita. I also have a police K-9
> named Thor. He was certified in drugs and general duty. He retired at 3
> years old because he was shot in the line of duty. He lives with us now
> and I still train with him because he likes it. I always liked the fact
> that there was no way to bring drugs into my house. Thor wouldn't allow
> it. He would tell on you. The reason I say this is so you understand
> that I know about drugs. I have taught in schools about drugs. My wife
> asks all our kids at le ast once a week if they used any drugs. I like
> building computers occasionally and started building a new one in
> February 2005. I also was working on some of my older computers. They
> were full of dust so on one of my trips to the computer store I bought a
> 3 pack of DUST OFF. Dust Off is a can of compressed air to blow dust off
> a computer. A few weeks later when I went to use one of them they were
> all used. I talked to my kids and my two sons both said they had used
> them on their computer and messing around with them. I yelled at them
> for wasting the 10 dollars I paid for them. On February 28 I went back
> to the computer store. They didn't have the 3 pack which I had bought on
> sale so I bought a single jumbo can of Dust Off. I went home and set it
> down beside my computer. On March 1st, I left for work at 10 PM. Just
> before midnight my wife went down and kissed Kyle goodnight. At 5:30 am
> the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up for school,
> before she left for work. He was propped up in bed with his legs crossed
> and his head leaning over.
> She called to him a few times to get up. He didn't move. He would
> sometimes tease her like this and pretend he fell back asleep. He was
> never easy to get up. She went in and shook his arm. He fell over. He
> was pale white and had the straw from the Dust Off can coming out of his
> mouth. He had the new can of Dust Off in his hands. Kyle was dead. I am
> a police officer and I had never heard of this. My wife is a nurse and
> she had never heard of this. We later found out from the coroner, after
> the autopsy, that only the propellant from the can of Dust off was in
> his system. No other drugs. Kyle had died betw een midnight and 1 AM. I
> found out that using Dust Off is being done mostly by kid's ages 9
> through 15. They even have a name for it. It's called dusting. A take
> off from the Dust Off name. It gives them a slight high for about 10
> seconds. It makes them dizzy. A boy who lives down the street from us
> showed Kyle how to do this about a month before. Kyle showed his best
> friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn't hurt you. It's just
> compressed air. It can't hurt you. His best friend said so. Kyle was
> wrong. It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant
> called R2. It's a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator.
> It is a heavy gas, heavier than air. When you inhale it, it fills your
> lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out. Tha t's why you feel
> dizzy buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. IT
> KILLS YOU.
>
> The horrible part about this is there is no warning. There is no level
> that kills you. It's not cumulative or an overdose; it can just go
> randomly, terribly wrong.
> IT'S NOT AN OVERDOSE.
> You don't die later. Or not feel good and say I've had too much.
> You usually die as you're breathing it in. If not you die within 2
> seconds of finishing "the hit."
> That's why the straw was still in Kyle's mouth when he died. Why his
> eyes were still open. The experts want to call this huffing. The kids
> don't believe its huffing.
>
> And that's why its more accepted. There is no chemical reaction, no st
> rong odor. It doesn't follow the huffing signals.
> Kyle complained a few days before he died of his tongue hurting. It
> probably did. The propellant causes frostbite.If I had only known. It's
> easy to say hey, it's my life and I'll do what I want
>
> But it isn't. Others are always affected. This has forever changed our
> family's life. I have a hole in my heart and soul that can never be
> fixed. The pain is so immense I can't describe it. There's nowhere to
> run from it. I cry all the time and I don't ever cry. I do what I'm
> supposed to do but I don't really care. My kids are messed up. One won't
> talk about it. The other will only sleep in our room at night. And my
> wife, I can't even describe how bad she is taking this. I thought we
> were safe because of Thor. I thought we were safe be cause we knew about
> drugs and talked to our kids about them.
>
> After Kyle died another story came out. A probation Officer went to the
> school system next to ours to speak with a student. While there he found
> a student using Dust Off in the bathroom. This student told him about
> another student who also had some in his locker. This is a rather
> affluent school system. They will tell you they don't have a drug
> problem there. They don't even have a dare or plus program there. So
> rather than tell everyone about this "new" way of getting high they
> found, they hid it. The probation officer told the media after Kyle's
> death and they, the school, then admitted to it. I know that if they
> would have told the media and I had heard, it wouldn't have been in my
> house.
>
> We need to get this out of our homes and school computer labs. Using
> Dust Off isn't new and some "professionals" do know about. It just isn't
> talked about much, except by the kids. They all seem to know about it.
> April 2 nd was 1 month since Kyle died. April 5th would have been his
> 15th birthday. And every weekday I catch myself sitting on the living
> room couch at 2:30 in the afternoon and waiting to see him get off the
> bus. This Officer is asking for everyone who receives this email to
> forward it to everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement
> Officers!
>
>
> Detective Sergeant Ryan M. Balseiro
> #2042
> Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office District I, Property Crimes
> Section
> District I, Community Resource Deputies
> District I, Community Service Officers
> Office (813)247-0626rbalseir@hcso.
> tampa.fl. us
>
>

[Jody Renfroe]

I just checked this out on Snopes and according to it, this report checks out in every detail!!!! This is true!

[Bizzymammabee]

This is very true. There is an episode of Intervention on A&E coming up with a girl that is seriously addicted to this. For anyone that has teenagers I suggest you watch this with them so they can see. Another form of this is them using helium....it does the same thing. When they start doing this you usually see their lips sort of blue becuase of the lack of oxygen to their system.

[YorkichonBella]

This is just horribly Sad & Scary! These kids are so young, trusting, & naive. Oprah also had a show recently where kids this age were putting ropes, etc around their necks, hanging themselves to get a High. There's probably a name for this one too, but I can't remember if so. The parents of the boy that died & their younger son who had also tried it once were on the show. Talk to your Kids! At first, I thought why discuss it with them.....maybe it gives them the idea, But.....you take the risk they're going to see, hear, or already know about it through others. If peers are doing it....they think it's ok. So Scary!!

[missj2007]

This is so sad.

[Yorkiekids]

I'm so sorry for your loss. It seems like they will try anything to get high. It's so hard to keep up with all the things they find to use.

[Sunnie]

I am going to copy/paste what I posted about this on another forum. This is nothing to ignore. It is very serious and can happen to anyone at anytime.

It is very scary and very real. My nephew died from huffing refridgerant. He was a straight A student who was just months from graduation and had already been accepted into several prestigious colleges. He could take his pick. Joey never used drugs.. ever!! Unfortunately his brother who was 2 years younger did use whatever he could. He talked Joey into trying it at home one night while my brother and his wife were in the living room. Andy showed Joey how to do it and told him it really wasn't a drug. So Joey tried it and Andy left the room for a second and walked back in to find Joey dead with the tube from the refrigerant still in his mouth. He screamed for mom and dad and they did everything they could. When the ambulance got there, there was nothing they could do. The refridgerant had frozen his lungs and evacuated all of the air. Even if someone was in the room with him, nothing could be done to save him once the refridgerant was inhaled into his lungs. It freezes before you even know it is happening. His death made everyone in this town stand up and take notice. It has been 8 years since he died, so this is nothing new. It is a shame to lose such a promising person who had the world in his hands for the taking. Laws have been passed requiring an ID to purchase canned air now.. Under 18 cannot purchase it. But with the computer age, I can say that probably better than half the homes in the US have some sitting there.

[bettyeanne]

Bobbi, thank you so much for posting this .... I have never, ever heard of it!! We have lots of that stuff around for our computers! I am going to send it to parents of our grandchildren right now!! My God, the responsibility of parents today ... I thank God every day that our children are grown but then I worry about the grandchildren. No matter how good our kids try to raise them .... there is just so much that they can get sucked into!! God help them!

[mypreciouspups]

Originally Posted by Jody Renfroe

I just checked this out on Snopes and according to it, this report checks out in every detail!!!! This is true!

My heavens what a tragedy this was.. what a heart breaking story...anne

[izzierj]

That was a very sad story you had to tell...It is so appreciated that you do this for everyone with or without children...Because even the ones without, or the parents or guardians who think 'not their child' can think again and say "I will talk to my children"....There are many things in the home that you would never consider 'life threatening' that are....It is the parents responsibility to talk to their children because kids will be kids ( I know, I have 4 who did things I would have thought they had more sense not to do)...No one is excluded from this type of situation or similar...
Pass on the writers' story....

[grandmatoall]

I am so thankful that everyone is taking this seriously. Kids can be talked into trying something they never would have tried by themselves. The more information we can get to them, their friends and families, the better chance we have of educating them of the horrors that may be out there.

I am so sorry for the families here who have been affected by these horrors.

Thank you so much for helping spread the word to everyone you know.

Bless all of you,
Bobbi

[cockerduchess]

Thanks for posting this I will definitely pass it on.

[BamaFan121s]

There was actually a story on "Intervention" the other night that was about a girl who'd become addicted to inhaling computer duster thingys.

[Catrina]

wow this is so crazy..... i was going to say i think it is cuz kids are so "bored" now a days that they need to be more involved in community and activities but from the stories i read that it could happen to anyone so sad .. guess this needs to be taught in schools how dangerous these activities are.. back in my day the new high was kids sniffing paint and now this..

[Mayas Mommy]

Bobbi ... thank you so much for posting this ..... I have NEVER heard of that .... but it is good to know ..... I can't imagen what else is out there to 'use' ..... this is scary .....

I will copy this an send it out to everyone on my email list .....