Fw: If you have kids/know people who have kids, you need to read this

[Guest guest]

if you have kids/know people who have kids, you need to read this - PLEASE read this Australian Police Officer's story carefully. You can also verify the story at http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.aspDust Off (or a variant of the product) is available everywhere there's acomputer . First I'm going to tell you a little about me and my family. My name isJeff. I am a Police Officer for a city which is known nationwide for itscrime rate (Brisbane). 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 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 goodnight. At 5:30 am the next morning Kathy went downstairs to wake up for school, before she left for work. He waspropped 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 togged 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. 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. 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 how to do thisabout a month before. showed his best friend. Told him it was cool and it couldn't hurt you. Its just compressed air. His best friend said no. 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. 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 '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 odour. It doesn't follow the huffing signals. complained a few days before he died of his tongue hurting. Itprobably did. The propellant causes frostbite. If I had only known. It'seasy to say hey, it's my life and I'll do what I want. But itisn'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. Icry 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 died another story came out. A Probation Officer went to theschool 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.So rather than tell everyone about this 'new' way of getting high they found, they hid it.The probation officer told the media after 's death and they, theschool, 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 bout it.April 2nd was 1 month since 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 is in heaven but I can't help but wonder If I have died and gone to Hell.The Officer is asking for everyone who receives this email to forward it to everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement Officers.Geoff ROBINSConstableCrime Prevention UnitQueensland Police ServiceLevel 2, BP House 193 North Quay, Brisbane GPO Box 1440, Brisbane, QLD 4000Ph: 07 3234 2111Fax: 07 3234 2100mailto:robins.geoffreyk@...