DUST OFF- BAD!!

[Lookatmeknow!!]

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
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 ab out 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 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. Wh! y 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 sa! fe 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.

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

I have looked this up on Snopes.com.  I wasn't sure if it was a true story or not.  I have gotten this email before, and thought that I would pass this on.  It is TRUE!!  I just looked up dust off and the same story appears.  I wanted to pass along this information for all the parents with young kids or grandparents on this forum. 

[Mom70x7]

And the Snopes confirmation:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/dustoff.asp

[Diane Amberg]

Bad stuff, like "huffing," these kids will put ANYTHING in their bodies. It's so sad.

[Tobina+1]

Don't you have to be 18 to buy most things with compressed air?  I know spray paint you have to be... for this exact reason.  But I guess if the dad bought it and had it in the house already, there wasn't anything a store could have done to prevent this.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

I'm sure that this is the reason that you have to be 18 to buy this stuff.  That is really sad, too.  I hate to even put nasal wash in my nose.  I know that they don't just put it in their noses, but what is the world coming to?  Our daughters are young.  But it is about time that we had a talk about drugs and alcohol. 

[Teresa]

My family and I were talking about this last night on our way to Wichita to a birthday party..and Mark said ( won't mention the name) that a can of keyboard cleaner air was bought yesterday and this boy payed cash for it. ( His mom and dad have a charge account and pay at the end of the month each month and usually anything that this kid gets he puts on their bill)

Mark thought it was odd.. but he didn't know anything about this new huffing stuff.

Don't ask us to go to the parents and ask them about it . That would be futile and just cause a war ..cause they wouldn't believe anything but what their son  tells them.
These certain parents are the  kind that if their son does anything wrong and even when he's caught red handed.. the mom and dad raise all kind of cain that their son "says he didn't do it" and he is not guilty and the cops are just picking on him.... yada yada yada...

But then again... maybe he was just wanting to clean his keyboard.    Ya never know.

I didn't know anything about the being 18 to buy this.. and I don't think the guys do either.
Small towns are usually the last to know or the last to have to worry about all the things that big city's have to monitor.. but maybe that is changing..

That's Sadness.

[Tobina+1]

I don't know if you have to be 18 to buy a can of air, but I do know you have to be 18 to buy a can of spray paint.  The scanners at Walmart actually stop the cashier and ask them to check for birthdate and enter Yes/No for if the customer is 18.  Haven't bought air at Walmart, so I don't know about that.  I was just thinking it might be the same for compressed anything. 

[W. Gray]

I use keyboard compressed air quite frequently and purchased a can about a month ago from Office Max.

The young clerk would not ring it up until she saw my drivers license proving I was over eighteen. (If I had asked her for a date, she would probably have muttered something like you dirty much older than eighteen old man).

I asked if she was for real and she said yes they have to check everyone.

She said it was state law but I have seen on the internet that it is Office Max policy.

[Diane Amberg]

Just to show you what a tightwad I am, I poof my keyboard with my fireplace bellows and it seems to work fine.

[Teresa]

ohhh Diane.. ..................................why didn't you just..............................errrr....ahhhh...........
no.. I will not say it.. ..I will not..!

((((but she left the door so wide open.~~~)))))

nope.. I won't.. I can't.. I must.. .not.... say.. a smart.. .ass...remark...