A very sad news story that we might learn from

[Eamonn 61]

http://www.wtae.com/news/29602905/detail.html

 

I didn't know this little Lad or his family.

Kinda strange I live in a small town where everyone seems to know everyone.

While it was a very foolish thing to do, at the time he smoked this stuff the stuff itself wasn't illegal here in PA.

It is now and while it might be harder for Lads like this poor kid to get, sadly just making it illegal doesn't mean that kids aren't going to try.

Some will manage to get this stuff and some will get hurt and Lord help us some will die.

I'm not sure how many States still allow the sale of this Synthetic Marijuana ?

We have lost to my knowledge just this one little Lad and that's one too many.

Please talk to your Scouts warn them that this is very dangerous, warn their parents.

It's too late for little Brandon.

The best we can do for him is offer a prayer and prevent others from falling victim like he did.

Eamonn.

[WAKWIB 107]

What a tragedy. I think that the synthetic stuff has been banned pretty much nationwide by now, or is in the process. It was made illegal here in Missouri in August. Too late for this poor kid and his family.

[Basementdweller 608]

Our area of town is littered with stores that sell such things......the current rage in our area is bath salt abuse. K2 is but one brand there are a number of them.

 

 

[Papadaddy 121]

Just to be clear, "bath salts" are not really the same stuff you put in your bath water. From WebMD: "The presumption is that most bath salts are MDPV, or methylenedioxypyrovalerone, although newer pyrovalerone derivatives are being made by illegal street chemists. Nobody really knows, because there is no way to test for these substances,"

[acco40 95]

If smoking marijuana was legal, this tragedy would have been prevented.

 

Making certain stupid behaviors illegal, doesn't prevent future stupid behavior.

[Eamonn 61]

acco40

I really don't hold any strong views on marijuana.

I do know that some kids will do some really dumb things in order to get high.

A little while back the local new was full of kids who were "Huffing".

Local hardware stores and paint stores did their best to not sell the materials that these kids were using.

The fact this this synthetic marijuana was legal (At that time) and ended up killing the poor kid, in my view makes this all the more sad.

Talking with my son last night, it turns out that he knows the father of this Lad.

My son is a volunteer fireman and this poor kids Dad is a local volunteer Fire-chief.

 

I agree whole heartedly that young people will do and do, do stupid and really dumb things and make poor choices.

My hope is that us older folks can help prevent them from doing things that really harm, hurt or in this case kill themselves.

Jumping off a very high cliff might not be illegal, but the landing is sure going to cause a lot of harm.(A lot of the time anyway!)

Ea.

 

[Scoutfish 16]

It wouldn't matter if marijuanna was legal or not, this boy was 13. Cigarettes are legal, but not for this kid. Beer is legal as well as wine and liquor. But not for this boy because he was only 13.

 

 

[Lisabob 13]

This stuff can be purchased (legally) at gas stations and corner stores where I live. No age limits because it isn't regulated (yet). My understanding is that this is being dealt with by the state legislature, but in the meantime...it is out there.

 

There's always something new on the horizon. Schools in my area have started sending out email updates on the latest psuedo-drug (are they psuedo?) crazes so that parents will be better informed. But to my way of thinking, the better thing to do is to try to raise children who aren't strongly tempted to try any of this stuff in the first place, rather than respond to each new thing with a new alarm. The frequent alarms can de-sensitize people or make people feel overwhelmed to the point of throwing up their hands. And kids tend to see it as adults freaking out needlessly over every little thing. (Or so my son & his friends tell me. They just roll their eyes at all of these school-report updates on the newest drug crazes. That's despite the fact that a number of young people in their schools have died in the last couple of years due to drug overdoses. Their view is that some kids will do anything, but that most kids won't and most parents are over-reacting in ways that make their children less likely to talk with them openly. I'm not saying I completely share this view, but that's what I hear from my late-teen son & his friends and theirs is a perspective worth considering, at least.)

 

Easier said than done, though. And I grieve for that one young man's family.

 

 

 

 

[KC9DDI 11]

Maybe I'm over-simplifying the issue, but... it would appear that the illegal drug (marijuana) is less dangerous than the pseudo-legal pseudo-drug in question...