Fundy Teen Dies After Smoking Spice/K9

[Ralar]

Has anybody heard about Connor Eckhardt? Apparently, he was a troubled teen from a fundy family who died after smoking spice/K9.

According to his father, he had some difficulty coping after finding out he was adopted and was sent to Master's Ranch Christian Academy, and sometime later enrolled in Liberty University.

Connor abused drugs, including heroin and meth, but supposedly was sober for over a year when he "tried" Spice. Sometime after smoking the drug, he stopped breathing or had a heart attack and his brain was deprived of oxygen. Doctors declared him brain dead, and following his wishes, his parents donated his major organs.

http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-dpt-me-0727-hoag-spice-20140726,0,2568525,full.story

[Mama Mia]

Very, very sad. I always hate hearing about this kind of thing, especially if they were clean and relapsed, seems like such a sad waste to come out of that fog and then end up dead. Personally I don't think the fundie thing is useful here. This happens to all kinds of kids from every sort of parenting philosophy.

[Ralar]

[ViolaSebastian]

Sometime after smoking the drug, he stopped breathing or had a heart attack and his brain was deprived of oxygen. Doctors declared him brain dead, and following his wishes, his parents donated his major organs.

Relapse deaths are such a tragedy, but sadly common, particularly with IV heroin users. Peaches Geldof comes to mind. They don't think to adjust their dose from when they were previously using and had built up a tolerance, and the results are usually fatal.

That being said, this brings up an interesting point that I don't know if we've discussed on FJ. Where do most fundies stand on organ donation?

[docmom]

I think we've discussed organ donation and fundies before. My recollection is that some sects are against it. Most are neutral and very few promote it in the way it should be promoted (IMHO). I was incensed last year when I saw a local fundie church roadside ad saying "Donate Organs- give your heart to Jesus" with no mention of actually donating organs.

[PennySycamore]

Relapse deaths are such a tragedy, but sadly common, particularly with IV heroin users. Peaches Geldof comes to mind. They don't think to adjust their dose from when they were previously using and had built up a tolerance, and the results are usually fatal.

That being said, this brings up an interesting point that I don't know if we've discussed on FJ. Where do most fundies stand on organ donation?

Philip Seymour Hoffman, too. What a damn shame!

[Trynn]

What exactly is spice? Was this kid smoking nutmeg?

[Rachel333]

It's synthetic marijuana usually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_cannabis I've only heard K2, though, not K9

It's really bad stuff (yet somehow it is legal and marijuana isn't). It can cause all sorts of problems just from using it once. A girl I know used it and, despite never before showing any psychiatric problems, ended up in the psych ward because she kept hallucinating for days. She said the doctor told her she's lucky it was only a few days because he's seen a lot worse.

[mebeforee]

It's actually not legal, but because it's synthetic the people who make this stuff can change the formula bit by bit and stay ahead of the law. But I've read a few articles recently about legislation to outlaw all 'cannabinoids' which targets the synthetic marijuana. The thing is that the chemical in marijuana (THC) is not an ingredient in the synthetic stuff, because THC is what's illegal, not the plant itself. For example, it is legal to have cannabis seeds because they contain no THC. It's also legal to grow hemp and have hemp products, which are from the marijuana plant. There's surely regulations for these things, but they're not illegal because they can't be smoked for intoxication purposes. So these synthetic marijuana substitutes aren't usually using THC, it's other chemicals that don't act in the same way in the body, and they're unregulated. Synthetic marijuana is waaaaaayy more dangerous than just smoking actual cannabis. I've been curious about Spice because I love a little cannabis, but I won't ever try that synthetic stuff because I've looked into it and there are a LOT of stories about people having bad reactions, and lots of people having heart or respiratory failure from them.

[Trynn]

Why is synthetics marijuana different from the real thing?

[mebeforee]

It's not actual marijuana, for one thing. It's some other smokable substance full of chemicals that are supposed to simulate a marijuana-like high (though I've heard mixed things about whether the experience is even similar, but people try them with the hopes that it is). But they don't contain the psychoactive chemicals that marijuana has, therefore they won't be detected by drug tests looking for marijuana use. Instead they have other unknown, apparently dangerous combinations of chemicals and people have no way of knowing what they are. It seems they were being sold for awhile before they took off in popularity and emergency rooms started getting floods of people who were smoking this stuff. They sometimes claim to have a lot of other herbs in it but apparently they often don't contain those ingredients, but other random stuff since they're not under any official organization that might enforce standards to make sure they're safe. It's kind of like how people used to be able to go to the drug store and get diet pills full of amphetamines, until the government started to see a lot of problems with them and realized they needed to be regulated as dangerous chemicals. I've also seen online that a lot of these 'legal high' things are sold as incense or aromatics with a disclaimer that they're not meant to be inhaled or smoked, even though that's clearly the intention behind their marketing. They probably avoid a lot of legal problems in that way, the same way you can't hold a bathroom cleanser company responsible for teenagers huffing it in their garage. Of course, if that bathroom cleanser company plastered the bottle with big stylized pictures of marijuana leaves, the attitude toward them might be (rightfully) different, as they should be with these products.

Honestly one reason I think it'd be smart for states to just go ahead and decriminalize marijuana use (aside from my personal bias of just kind of wanting to be able to grow it in my yard or buy at my local supermarket) is that it's much safer than these alternatives that people are using solely because they're legal. If the aim is really to keep people safe from drugs, then a fairly benign one like marijuana should be considered preferable over these synthetic marijuanas that are actually killing people... jmo.

[VixenToast]

In Nebraska we call it K2 or Popourri (pope for short). I do not like it. It is such a sickening high, yet there some chemical in it that causes receptors to build as I don't usually turn down the occasional bowls my cousin shares with me. It is disgusting. My cousin (who is like a sister) is totally addicted to that shit. She spends most of her time in the attic of her grandmothers house, drowsing in and out of sleep, not bothering to shower (I know it has been over a week). She would rather spend her money on pope than cigarettes. I asked her one time if she had a hard time getting a hold of weed and if that was why she smoked it. No, she said, she just likes it better. She is a fucking zombie now. And she checked herself into rehab months ago to get clean from it. Dammit all. It is only a matter of time til I snap and grab it from her hands and give her a good talking to like any good sister would. She has become its obedient slave.

Two days ago when I last visited, she was supposed to be helping her mom babysit. Her mom (also my cousin) came upstairs to grab the baby and muttered under her breath something about my cousin not being sober enough. My cousin laughed because she couldn't tell her mom was upset and when high on that awful shit she always thinks everyone feels the same way she does. She even asked me if her mom was laughing too. I told her the hell no she wasn't. And that she was mad.

If I had my way, I would find a way to get rid of K2. Such a seemingly innocent looking substance, such an insidious reality. Damn shame.