Pubdate: Sun, 25 Sep 2005
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact:  http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Jeff  Williams
Note: Jeff Williams' very personal warning about the dangers of 
Dust-Off  has been widely circulated on the Web, prompting discussion 
among parents and children. Here are excerpts from his e-mail.

A FATHER'S WARNING HIT HOME FOR MANY

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 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 them, they were all used. I 
talked to my kids and  my 2 sons both said they had used them on 
their computer and messing around with  them. I yelled at them for 
wasting the $10 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 p.m. At 11 p.m. my wife went down 
and kissed Kyle goodnight.

At 5:30 a.m. the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake Kyle up 
for school, before she left for work. He was sitting 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 a.m. I found out that using Dust 
Off is being done mostly by kids ages 9 through 15. 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 no. Kyle was wrong.

It's not just compressed air. It also contains a propellant. . . . 
It's a refrigerant like what is used in your refrigerator. . . . 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's not 
cumulative or an overdose; it can just go randomly, terribly wrong . 
. . 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. Kyle complained a few days before he 
died of his tongue hurting.

It probably did. The propellant causes frostbite.

If I had only known. 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. . . . 
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. 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.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman