I would have sent this to Kathy personally but I didn't save her address.
Beside I think this is important enough for us all to know.  I live in
Cleveland as well so this message has a personal ring for me as I also have
a 15 year old son.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cornell Ligon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 9:26 PM
Subject: Re: [blcompusers] off topic dust-off


> HI All,
> I work in both areas mentioned, but more so in Lake County where the city
of
> residence is located. I also work in Crises situations and I just recently
> prepared a report for my boss in that exact topic, so I forwarded the
> officer's statement to her, because she has more direct knowledge of the
> situation than I do. I cannot go into details, but that exact story is the
> reason why the topic was researched for our past July meeting.
> I also worked in Cleveland with the children of that city directly, and
he's
> right, you would think of 'drug' problems to be more acute there, but it
> does exists everywhere and kids unfortunately will find a means of getting
> high.
>
>
> Regards,
> Cornell

>    Dust Off- A Serious Fatal Hazard
>    First IM 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 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
> 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. At 11 PM my wife went down and
> kissed Kyle goodnight. At 530 AM 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 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 no.
>
>    Kyle's death
>    Kyle was wrong. It's not just compresses air. It also contains a
> propellant. I think its 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 your 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 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 hay, 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 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.
>
>
>
>    Commentary:
>    Sadly, the information outlined in this email forward is true. On the
2nd
> March 2005, 14-year-old Kyle Williams of Painesville Township, Ohio died
> after inhaling Dust-Off. As outlined in the email, Dust-Off is a product
> that contains a compressed gas used for removing the dust from computers.
> Kyle's father, Jeff is indeed a police officer in Cleveland, Ohio.
>
>    Unfortunately, many consumers are under the mistaken impression that
> Dust-Off and similar products contain a seemingly harmless product -
> compressed air. In fact, such products are commonly referred to as "canned
> air". However, the products actually contain a compressed gas, NOT
> compressed air. Because of this misconception, parents and children may
not
> realize how dangerous inhaling them can be. This is an important issue, as
> such seemingly trivial misconceptions can have a quite powerful influence
on
> the way consumers conceive of and use a product. In fact, a representative
> from Falcon, the company that manufactures Dust-Off, has contacted me
after
> reading an earlier version of this article. He states that:
>
>      We are hoping you can help clarify a misconception about our product.
> As you noted, most people refer to our product as "canned air", when in
> reality the product is filled with a compressed-gas. Our company makes it
a
> practice to never refer to the product in such a manner as it is
misleading
> to consumers. We believe that referring to our product as "canned air"
gives
> individuals a false sense of comfort and, therefore, they believe it to be
> harmless if directly inhaled.
>