Bellevue Teen Takes Life

[poledriver]

Bellevue Teen Takes Life (synthetic pot)

Bellevue Teen Takes Life (synthetic pot)

The family of an 18-year old from Bellevue is grieving after the teen killed himself on Saturday.

Monday, the Smith Family warned others of the danger of using “synthetic marijuana.” They said their son; Tyler Smith used “potpourri” or “incense” before he took his life Saturday afternoon.

Bath salts and K2 have recently been in the headlines for the dangers they pose to the public. Now, the Smith’s want people to know “potpourri” and “incense” are just other forms of the chemicals and are just as dangerous.

“When he had this incense, he had no expression on his face.” Mike Smith, Tyler’s brother said. “It looked like he couldn’t understand where he was, like he was on another planet,” Mike said.

Tyler Smith was a senior at Bellevue West High School; he was set to graduate in December. For the past two months he had been working at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Bellevue. “I remember last week he seemed like he was motivated to get up and work,” David Smith, Tyler’s father said.

Tyler faced a tough road because his mother, Kali, said her son suffered from a seizure disorder and Reactive Airway Disease, illnesses that plagued him through school. So much so, it delayed his graduation.

Tyler also suffered mentally.

Kali said they tried extensively, through therapy and ant-anxiety medication to help Tyler. She said it was a mother's instinct to know, deep down, her son needed serious help. "I told these people, I told them all something is wrong. No one listened to me, nobody. Nobody heard me,” Kali said.

Nonetheless, things looked positive for a while even after Tyler was caught with a drug pipe and was completing diversion. Mike said his brother was not a “junkie”, nor did he suffer from a history of drug use.

Then about two weeks ago, the family said Tyler made a complete change. "You have a few kids who bring the stuff into school and you give it to a kid like Tyler, one time your mind is gone, one time,” Kali said.

The family said Tyler got a hold of “Zencense” or a form of synthetic marijuana. For the past two weeks, the family said he had been using it.

Then Saturday afternoon Tyler killed himself with a handgun. The family found a "Zencense" wrapper in one of Tyler’s pockets.

"We never in a million years thought any time in this world Tyler would do that, but that’s the thing, he wasn't in this world when he had that incense,” Mike said.

"I think Tyler had a green light to do it after he got a negative test back,” David said. "Any kid can walk in there and get it… he smoked it and it changed him.”

"We tested for every drug and K2 and it all came back negative,” Kali said.

Bellevue Police said most of the chemicals like "potpourri" and "incense" are not illegal to buy and sell, just to smoke. The department also confirmed with Channel Six News they recovered a pipe with “incense” residue still inside it from the family.

The Nebraska Region Poison Control Center said the chemicals are dangerous. They can cause intense hallucinations, psychotic episodes, and in some cases, thoughts of suicide.

The visitation for Tyler Smith is scheduled for Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at Heafy and Heafey Mortuaries near 78th and Center. Services are set for Friday at 11 a.m. at Westside Church.

The public is welcome to donate money to the family in two ways. The first, through an online web site called www.giveforward.com/tylersmith. The second is by visiting any Buffalo Wild Wings location in Omaha, Council Bluffs and Papillion anytime on Wednesday, October 3rd. Then, mention Tyler Smith and 10% of the ticket will go to help the family.

http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/Bellevue-Teen-Takes-Life-172186861.html

 

[slimvictor]

Sad story.

I don't want to minimize that, but it was also a terrible article, and I would like to talk about that, and the general slant of the public perception, including the family's perspective (as quoted in the article).

The family of an 18-year old from Bellevue is grieving after the teen killed himself on Saturday.

Monday, the Smith Family warned others of the danger of using “synthetic marijuana.” They said their son; Tyler Smith used “potpourri” or “incense” before he took his life Saturday afternoon.

Wow, they must be issuing their warning in the midst of grief - just 2 days after their son died. Is it possible that there is hysteria involved?

Bath salts and K2 have recently been in the headlines for the dangers they pose to the public. Now, the Smith’s want people to know “potpourri” and “incense” are just other forms of the chemicals and are just as dangerous.

Translation: You know the stuff that makes people zombies?
All these new drug words refer to drugs like that.

"dangers they pose to the public" = to the individual who chooses to ingest the drug? To the public at large? Ambiguous!
Suicide certainly affects his family and friends, but it is quite different than if he had gone on a shooting rampage, so the use of the word "public" here is likely purposefully ambiguous. Bath salts = zombies, so if you speak in generalities and link synthetic cannabinoids to synthetic cathinones, maybe we can just ban all of them and "make the public safe" (which involves searching and arresting and incarcerating thousands of people from the public who possess these chemicals).

“When he had this incense, he had no expression on his face.” Mike Smith, Tyler’s brother said. “It looked like he couldn’t understand where he was, like he was on another planet,” Mike said.

Well, Mike Smith, you have likely had only drug propaganda in your home and schools, not science-based education, so I have to suddenly inform you of something that can frighten some people: people actually may "go somewhere" when they are on drugs.
They can have an intense, peaceful / terrifying / relaxing / life-changing / meaningful experience entirely in their minds.
They may seem to be "on another planet" to you, but you cannot possibly imagine what amazing and terrible things they may be experiencing.

“I remember last week he seemed like he was motivated to get up and work,” David Smith, Tyler’s father said.

Is the dad saying that it was so sudden, and he was healthy and alive just recently?
Or that maybe he was buying drugs with the money?
In any case, it sounds positive, and with his final 2 weeks spent high on Zensence, I am glad to hear he could function normally, or even better than normal?

Tyler faced a tough road because his mother, Kali, said her son suffered from a seizure disorder and Reactive Airway Disease, illnesses that plagued him through school. So much so, it delayed his graduation.

Someone with these disorders should not be smoking anything, especially a research chemical like synthetic cannabinoids.

Tyler also suffered mentally.

Kali said they tried extensively, through therapy and ant-anxiety medication to help Tyler. She said it was a mother's instinct to know, deep down, her son needed serious help. "I told these people, I told them all something is wrong. No one listened to me, nobody. Nobody heard me,” Kali said.

So, he had serious mental illness, and his mother knew all along that he was deeply troubled. Sad, but why would they blame his death on the cannabinoids?

Nonetheless, things looked positive for a while even after Tyler was caught with a drug pipe and was completing diversion. Mike said his brother was not a “junkie”, nor did he suffer from a history of drug use.

I don't "suffer from a history of drug use". Instead, I am an experienced psychonaut, with dozens or hundreds of distinct modes of consciousness under my belt.

Then about two weeks ago, the family said Tyler made a complete change. "You have a few kids who bring the stuff into school and you give it to a kid like Tyler, one time your mind is gone, one time,” Kali said.

But he was so pepped up for work just last week!
And how does she know he only used it one time?

The family said Tyler got a hold of “Zencense” or a form of synthetic marijuana. For the past two weeks, the family said he had been using it.

Ah, so it wasn't one time! And he had been using it for 2 weeks, but had been going to work enthusiastically during that period.

Then Saturday afternoon Tyler killed himself with a handgun. The family found a "Zencense" wrapper in one of Tyler’s pockets.

They also found a cup that tests later showed to be laced with cola residue on his desk, as well as crumbs of chocolate in one of the drawers. Both drugs contain Ka-Fiend, a chemical that can be fatal when insufflated.

"We never in a million years thought any time in this world Tyler would do that, but that’s the thing, he wasn't in this world when he had that incense,” Mike said.

There is a real possibility that the synthetic cannabiniods brought out the boy's inherent mental illness, but it is really difficult to know for sure.
Because cannabis is illegal, such drugs are attractive to people, and very few drugs tests can test for synthetic cannabinoids (and then, only certain of them can be tested for), which is another attraction. We know very little about such drugs, and thousands of humans are serving as guinea pigs all around the world, every day. Cannabis may have been far safer in that much more is known about it, but it is also linked to the possibility of bringing out inherent mental illness, and so it, too, would have been ill-advised (especially with Tyler's diseases).

You see, some people should not take certain drugs. Tyler should not have been taking cannabinoids.
A better, science-based drug education system in the US might have prevented this tragedy.

"I think Tyler had a green light to do it after he got a negative test back,” David said.

After using the Zensence, Tyler took a drug test, and it was negative, so he thought he could smoke as much as he wanted.
He ignored his mental and physical illnesses.

"Any kid can walk in there and get it… he smoked it and it changed him.”

Available...and terrible.

"We tested for every drug and K2 and it all came back negative,” Kali said.

So, the next drug test didn't find anything, because not all cannabinoids are covered by the test. In fact, most aren't. Even if they make tests for the hundred or more than aren't now testable, chemists will make another hundred chemicals that are not testable. That is the way it goes with the drug war. If cannabis were legal, this would not be the case.

Bellevue Police said most of the chemicals like "potpourri" and "incense" are not illegal to buy and sell, just to smoke.

Is it illegal to use gasoline to douse yourself in order to immolate yourself?
Could you go to jail for using gasoline for the wrong purpose, even such a violent purpose?
But using these chemicals to get high can send you to jail, though you are just trying to feel good.

The Nebraska Region Poison Control Center said the chemicals are dangerous. They can cause intense hallucinations, psychotic episodes, and in some cases, thoughts of suicide.

We know very little about these chemicals. It would be far better if our youth were using cannabis, which is far better-understood, and has a relatively safe profile for a drug. But those with known mental illness or the types of physical disorders that they boy had should not be using cannabis, either.
Legalization doesn't mean that everyone should use it.
We won't begin mandatory "stonings" as part of a typical college curriculum until at least 2075