Text 13499, 116 rader
Skriven 2008-03-24 21:17:05 av Carol Shenkenberger (5223.fidonews)
Ärende: A note I had my daughter read
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D U S T I N G ' 

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 its
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 least once
a week if they used any drugs. Makes them promise they won't. 

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 between midnight and 1 AM. 

I found out that using Dust Off is being done mostly by kids 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 no. 

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 that's why you feel dizzy, buzzed.  It
decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. Kyle was right.  It can't
hurt you.  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. Roll the dice and if your number comes up you die. IT'S NOT
AN OVERDOSE.  It's Russian Roulette. 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. As adults we tend to lump many things together. But it
doesn't fit here. And that's why it's more accepted. 

There is no chemical reaction, no strong 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 because 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 2nd 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.  I know Kyle
is in heaven but I can't help but wonder if I died and went to Hell. 

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Got this from Fred Ball who found it on the internet.
              xxcarol
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