(Blogger's Note:  I did not write this article and I don't know who did, so I cant verify the source, but the facts sound valid to me.  This article floated around the Internet for some time, sent to me by a friend. I reprint it here for your information.  I strongly suggest all parents and children take this as a serious warning.)

"This is a problem around here.  A senior at Valle View High School was caught in the restroom at the end of last year doing this.  She had a can she took from the computer lab.  Watch your kids around this stuff."  John Miller

DUSTING

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 nation-wide 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 because he likes it.  I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my house.  Thor wouln'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 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 an messing round with thm.  I yelled a 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 - 15.  They even have a name for it.  It's callled, dusting.  A takeoff 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 compresed air.  It cant hurt you.  His best friend said, no.

Kyle was wrong.  It's not just compressed air.  It also contains a propellant, called R2.  It's a refrigerant, like what is used in your rerigerator.  It is a heavy gas, heavier than air.  When you inhale it, it fils your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen, out that why you feel dizzy, buzzed.  It decreases the oygen 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 Roulete.  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 withn 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 "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 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 realy care.  My kids are messd 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 Oficer went to the school system next to ours to speak with a student.  While there, he found a student using DUSTOFF 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 the "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 admited to it. 

I know that, if they would have told the media and I had heard, it would not have been in my house.  We need to get this out of our homes and school compter labs.  Using DUST OFF isn't new an some "professionals" do know about it.  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 2:30PM 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.