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foxysnake

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An email I recently got. Scary stuff for anyone with kids.

If you have kids/know people who have kids, you need to read this - PLEASE
read this Australian Police Officer's story carefully. You can also verify
the story at http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.asp

Dust Off (or a variant of the product) is available everywhere there's a
computer.

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 (Brisbane). 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 wont.

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 toget

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. Its just compressed air. His best friend said no.

Kyle was wrong. It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant
called R2. Its 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 it's 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
odour. 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 effected. 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.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 bout 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 have died and gone to Hell.

The Officer is asking for everyone who receives this email to forward it to
everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement Officers.

Geoff ROBINS
Constable
Crime Prevention Unit
Queensland Police Service
Level 2, BP House 193 North Quay, Brisbane GPO Box 1440, Brisbane, QLD 4000
Ph: 07 3234 2111
Fax: 07 3234 2100
mailto:[email protected]
 
Wow... thats such a sad story, never heard of that stuff before either.. poor guy.
 
Such a sad story :(

The trouble is you hear this sort of thing going on all time. With all the warnings about things like ecstasy etc, people still play Russian Roulette with it.

It's the same with all the warnings in regards to smoking (I used to be a pretty bad culprit myself so I can talk lol). Who pays any attention?

The worst bit is, with all the warnings, all the statistics, the only thing that will truly come to light at the end of the day is another tradgic story, exactly like this one. That's the saddest part! We're all bulletproof until we get shot :?
 
Sad story. I find it interesting that someone has changed the details of the story to make it appear that this happened in australia though.
 
YES THIS STORY HAS A SAD ENDING BUT WHY WAS IT LEFT WHERE KIDS COULD GET IT IN THE FIRST PLACE SHOULD OF BEEN LOCKED AWAY NO MATTER HOW OLD THEY ARE SORRY FOR CAPS DAMN KEYBOARD IS LOCKED.
 
Well I know when I was 9 or 10 years old there wasn't much my parents could keep hidden from me. I think in this case the only thing to do is either not buy the product or alert your older kids to just how dangerous it is. What I mean is PK you can't lock away everything that may be harmless to your kids - paint, vanilla essence, sprays like the above etc and even if you do obviously other kids have got the 'hit' from school or they could just buy it from a local computer store or get a friend too.
 
When I was a kid long time ago the thing was Pure and Simple a cooking spray, my younger brother who is now 45 watch a mate die chroming with it. There will be always something that can be used for a high, model areoplane glue was aniother favorite.
You have to be honest with your kids facts not fantasy A lot of kids are more knowledgeable than their parents as to the effects of drugs . As a parent it is your responsibility to educate your self with the facts and pass this on to your children.
The days of saying dope use will lead to hard drugs are over. Dope is a hard drug nowadays with most of it being grown in a hydro inviroment and not flushed this once soft drug is now responible for more drug induced sychosis than any other, this is not reversible and leaves the unwitting smoker with a lifetime mental problem.
Dont take anything for granted educate yourself and your kids and be honest with them.
 
Moclobe said:
Sad story. I find it interesting that someone has changed the details of the story to make it appear that this happened in australia though.

Iagrre why change so that it appears to have happened here only makes it look sus!!
 
This is gunna sound cold (reserve flames for PMs), but to me, if someone is dumb enough to do drugs (regardless of age) and kill themselves, they are doing the human race a favour by removing their genes from the pool.

PS: If any member here has lost a child or loved one to drug use, I'm sorry for your loss, but it's hard to sugarcoat the way I see things.
 
Moclobe wrote: ?Sad story. I find it interesting that someone has changed the details of the story to make it appear that this happened in australia though.


Iagrre why change so that it appears to have happened here only makes it look sus!!

My guess it is done so as to make it look local so more people will pass it on to everyone. Yes it is a tragic story but no different in its form from any other chain letter. It is just spamming.

IMO
 
Sorry ...It may have happened......But to who...Possibly not an Aussie kid..... If you read the link that is attached to this thread it says under the green box that it was overseas..... Quote"She immediately called the Lake County Sheriff?s Office. " We dont have a County Sheriff....

And this was is what was written at the end of it...

Quote "This sad e-mail about a teen's demise reached us in the first week of April 2005. By mid-May 2005, versions in circulation had picked up the following attribution, causing many to conclude the death had taken place in Calgary, Alberta, rather than in Cleveland, Ohio:
Tracey Lowey, B.A., M.S.
Crime Analyst
Targeted Enforcement Unit #583
Calgary Police Service
Office: 206-8360 "

Now I am not saying it didnt happen.... I just think someone has edited the thread to make it out as a Aussie kid that died... I may be mistaken..... But yes someone probably could die from it..Especially Kids..!!!
 
Yeah it happened I think in Cleveland Ohio and someone changed a few details including the spelling of the fathers name - Geoff when its Jeff. But regardless of its origins I think it is still a good warning for parents with kids. And how it can happen to anyone even after confronting and talking to your kids about drugs and why they shouldn't be used etc. I'm a young single mum with 2 kids, even though at the moment they're only 5 and 4 I dread the whole issues with drgus and excessive alcohol use etc when they're older. Probably because I remember what I used to get up to despite a 'strict' religious upbringing. I think its any parents worse nightmare what happened to this family. I guess as a parent, you can only try and steer your children towards the right path and hope they are able to make the right choices in life and hope all goes well from there.
 
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