> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Donna Brown <dbrown at archlou.org>
> Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 07:59:34 -0500
> To: Donna Brown <dbrown at archlou.org>
> Conversation: Latest Drug in Middle School - "Dusting"
> Subject: Latest Drug in Middle School - "Dusting"
>
> Please read the following and take note- this is a real problem, not urban
> legend. The following started circulating in about 2005 but it hit my email
> again this morning and I thought it might be time to remind students that the
> "compressed air" we have in our computer labs and at home is not just air.
> There is a real danger in misuse of these products.
>
> Donna
> Donna Brown
> Technology Curriculum Consultant
> Archdiocese of Louisville
> Flaget Center
> 1935 Lewiston Drive
> Louisville, KY 40216
> dbrown at archlou.org
> Phone: 502-448-8581 ext. 1319
> Fax: 502-448-5518
>
>
>
>
> 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. 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 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. 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 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.
>
> I know Kyle is in heaven, but I can ' t help but wonder If I died and went to
> Hell.
>
> This Officer is asking those who receives this email to forward it to everyone
> in their address book, especially those people with kids, and even to Law
> Enforcement Officers.
>
>
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