[asf4588]

What I've received in the email...


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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 least 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 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 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. That's why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen to your brain, to your heart. IT KILL S 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 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.

[sde780]

Thats a sad story, one of my friends used to huff duster, it was pretty bad. I don't talk to him anymore tho

[Ronkh]

Actually this is old
Newer stuff is the alcohol jelly (hand sanitizer). Watch it being removed from schools.

There is also some stuff made from fermented feces. That's catching on too.

[Account Deleted]

The tanks are the scariest to me. I found out my niece tried it, and what was scarier was that she wasn't phased at all, no guilty conscience what's so ever. This thread made me text her "I love you. In case I haven't told you lately". Having kids is so scary...

[thesonofgray]

Stupid kids.

That sounds insensitive but that's the reality. I don't remember ever wanting to do stupid things like this when I was a teen, and I'm only 22!

My parents rarely ever talked to me about drugs/alcohol/etc when I was that age - they talked to me about using common sense and not being stupid. I think that's what kept me out of so much trouble.

Parents of teens and preteens have my sympathy cause I can't imagine trying to raise one in such a self-destructive environment.

[YPG]

You have to be 18 or older to buy canned air at RS.

[Ronkh]

I deal with this stuff all the time. Scares the hell out of me.
All I keep telling my kids is "Don't do anything stupid"

side note. the sponsered link right now is for canned air.

[thesonofgray]

Originally Posted by Ronkh

I deal with this stuff all the time. Scares the hell out of me.
All I keep telling my kids is "Don't do anything stupid"

side note. the sponsered link right now is for canned air.

Absolutely no parenting experience here, but I think that's the way to go. I think parents try to cover a list of known threats to their kids, and just repeat "no this, no that, etc etc". But then the most random things like sucking in Dust Off infiltrates the schools and some kids probably, in the back of their head at the moment of that critical decision to do or not do, check if Dust Off is on the "no this, no that" list and since it isn't, it must be ok (or at least they can't be yelled at for going against a direct order).

I liken it to teaching the guy to fish, rather than giving him a fish to eat. Instead of trying to cover a list of stupid things not to do, tell them to use their common sense and don't be stupid (e.g. "Does the can say to suck up the air? No? Then why would you?!").

Anyways, I'm not a parent so I'm sure plenty on here would love to tell me how much more complicated parenting is.

(I can hear my mom now, complaining about how difficult I was to raise )

[Ronkh]

Yeah, but try telling a mother you're doing all you can for her kid, but knowing inside it's futile. But hoping against hope. Taking risks cuz it's a kid. Same end result.
Then hoping you do a better job raising your kids.

[liquidfire]

no offense to any parents on here, but why do you think your kids are finding all kinds of ways to get "high"? you warn them about the normal "drugs" so since they know those are soo "bad" they want to do them. so they will then find other ways to get the same feelings. they dont see it as wrong because you havent told them not to do it.

I agree with the "dont be stupid" approach. Parents and kids need to be more responsible. Not saying that the OP wasnt. But kids these days are doing dumber and dumber things and most, not all, parents just blame it on everything but their parenting skills.

and dust-off?! who woulda thought of that?? and honestly what kid is dumb enough to think that its ok to inhale this stuff??

[Account Deleted]

Kids have been doing dumb things since the start of time, yes it's getting worse and worse, but so is society.

Sometimes the parents do all they can, and sometimes the kids are amazing kids who just make mistakes. Let's try not to be so judgemental and realize that each child has a different experience that may drive him or her to do things that you consider beneath you just because you didn't fall prey to it. Yes it is insensitive and inappropriate, peer pressure leads kids to suicide, drugs, and much worse. It sucks but it's true. Instead of jumping the gun and blaming the victim, even if they were a participant, I think the purpose of the story was to create awareness, not incite criticism.

Just my thoughts

Edit: Hope that didn't offend anyone, we're all allowed to speak our peace, whatever our views, it's just an issue close to my heart. Peace

[Ronkh]

All we can do as parents is do our best. Show our best.
Then put the rest in God's hands and hope/pray.

There are a lot of pressures both inside and outside the home. No matter how perfect the enviornment is.

[str8bacardil]

Originally Posted by Ronkh

side note. the sponsered link right now is for canned air.

lozer


Oh yeah and this is not fake, I was suprised.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/dustoff.asp