Dust Off - WARNING

Post by **FZ1** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:23 am

I thought this might be applicable to the group since they tend to be used a lot on computers. I got this in e-mail today:

You can 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. 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 commputers. 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! s about a month before. Kyle showed his best friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn't hurt you. Its just compressed air. It can't hurt you. 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 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 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. 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.

Soliex · Post by **Soliex** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:32 am

Thats a pretty sad story, Seems like everything thats inside your house thats not edible can kill you, which isnt a good thing. Im glad i dont buy dust off, and have an air compressor.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:46 am

wow... that is insane... If you have Dustoff sitting around in the open or in a desk drawer you may want to move it to a more secure location.

alister · Post by **alister** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 10:51 am

Kids do some crazy stuff today. Stuff like this and the passout game.

Alister

yurchie · Post by **yurchie** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 4:53 pm

That's sad, I wish peer pressure wasn't so tough to overcome...

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:07 pm

tell me about it yurchie. that's how I ruined my life by becoming a pothead: pure peer pressure. luckily, I haven't touched the stuff in 2 months. you can tell this society is going down quick (if only today's teens got the strict discipline that their parents got, hell, even their older brothers/sisters, things wouldn't be like this). If I ever have a kid (I got a few years

), and I catch him with any sort of drug (even a crushed-up Tylenol), his ass is grass, and that's all there is to it.

yurchie · Post by **yurchie** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:13 pm

killswitch83 wrote:tell me about it yurchie. that's how I ruined my life by becoming a pothead: pure peer pressure. luckily, I haven't touched the stuff in 2 months. you can tell this society is going down quick (if only today's teens got the strict discipline that their parents got, hell, even their older brothers/sisters, things wouldn't be like this). If I ever have a kid (I got a few years ), and I catch him with any sort of drug (even a crushed-up Tylenol), his ass is grass, and that's all there is to it.

I was pretty lucky growing up, never really got into that stuff without any sort of parental discipline.

Congrats on staying off

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:19 pm

thanks; yeah now I'm definitely building something great for myself. I've started the first of my last 3 semesters of college (after a 3-year absence) last week. I'm on the track to becoming Cisco-Certified (the level 1 certification anyways- CCNA; still a good start) and who knows what will happen from there. I also used to be an alcoholic, but through self-realization of what I've done, I've been clean for over a year. It's been hard, but things are getting better. Now if I can just find another job (they've become scarce down here in the South; maybe I need to go back to Long Island, NY, which is where I'm from, or maybe somewhere in the city). Anyways, I ramble too much

yurchie · Post by **yurchie** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 5:21 pm

That's awesome.

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:28 pm

Wow, scary story indeed. Kinda crazy how it always seems to be the "best" kids that go to the wayside. I think kids just need to find better hobbies that challenge their mind and body, something to keep them striving forward and making goals (like sports or even building computers). It's when they have nothing else better to do and they don't see any reason not to because there is nothing really for them to look forward to in life that they turn to harmful/illegal substances for a temporary high. Then we all know what happens then!

I don't think it's a lack of supervision or punishment or threats that allows kids to try this stuff, I think it is just the fact that they don't have enough to look forward to in life and they don't have good or enough goals set for themselves to have any reason not to.

Oh yeah, GJ on staying clean Paul!

cubedgame · Post by **cubedgame** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:41 pm

That's really quite sad.

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:50 pm

I appreciate the kudos Blake. That's why I'm a "polar bear" as you put it, lol. That hard stuff puts the weight on quick, maybe not as quick as beer, but as many uber-strong margaritas I drank a day back then, it was enough to pack on about 50 lbs. Guess I'll keep my Gold's Gym membership after all

Kevin007 · Post by **Kevin007** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:48 pm

how sad!

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:31 pm

Ehh, it's all gravy now, no problems at all, the strongest drink I would go near now is iced tea, rofl (and not of the Long Island variety, though I'm from there, lol

); the only thing there is now is get through these last 3 semesters of college, and hopefully graduate by the start of Fall Semester next year, and maybe have my CCNA by the end of Spring Semester so I can get my foot in the door with an awesome company; but for now, I can settle for something a mere step under what I'm pursuing.

crazy8jacky · Post by **crazy8jacky** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:29 am

Last year I knew a kid doing this same thing. He thought it was cool, especially the really deepness it made his voice for a few seconds after. He snorted pepsi off the (dirty) pavement while in between inhaling this stuff too.... told me it was coke..... I don't know what the **** was wrong with him.

I think the best anyone can do is to talk with their kids because no matter what the kids are going to make the desicion. All you can do is tell them what you think and why and hope the believe and understand you.

I speak as being a kid myself

//edit Watch the language. This is a family happt forum and many of our members have soft, innocent ears. Ttake a look at the rules if need be.

~infinite

JTanczos · Post by **JTanczos** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 2:33 am

Wow... that IS really sad.

I had no idea that stuff could kill you. I never used compressed air yet in my life but will be extra careful when I do.

As for what was said about anything not edible being dangerous for ya. There are many foods that ARE without moderation. Water can kill ya if you drink too much. Seen a few stories on the news about hazing rituals involving drinking several watercooler jugs.

JT