Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)

I have learned that an Ingraham student died before school started from an accidental overdose Apparently the student thought he had bought one drug but it also may have been laced with fentanyl.  Principal Floe is sending out a letter to the school community.

As well, there have been a spate of young people with breathing problems from the use of street Jule product who are streaming into hospitals across the country. From PBS:

Americans should not smoke e-cigarettes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday, as they investigate how hundreds of people became sick, and at least three people died, after using them.

From CNBC:

They look like the e-cigarette Juul. They taste sort of like Juul. But they’re not Juul.

The market-leading e-cigarette company stopped selling fruity flavors of nicotine pods in retail stores last fall amid pressure from the Food and Drug Administration to stem what it declared an “epidemic” of teen vaping. Yet mango, fruit and creme pods continue to line store shelves — presumably many of them fake.

Juul users have been deluged with a variety of alternatives since then. Some companies have rushed in to make “compatible” pods that can be vaped with Juul’s devices but are marketed under different brand names.

A college athlete may lose a lung from vaping. Via CBS News:

A father from Florida says his 20-year-old son is one of many young patients diagnosed with a serious illness linked to vaping. As of August 22, the CDC said it was investigating at least 193 potential cases of severe lung illness in 22 states associated with e-cigarette products.

McKnight said despite the fact that his son was healthy and athletic, vaping deteriorated his health. And so when he contracted the adenovirus — a common bug that causes respiratory illness — he could not recover from it.

McKnight told CBS News that he asked the hospital if they were going to report his son's case to the state health department or the CDC, but the hospital said they are not required to do so. "That's another problem with this whole vaping situation," he said.

The CDC says in many of the cases patients experienced symptoms gradually, which included "breathing difficulty, shortness of breath, and/or chest pain before hospitalization." Some patients also reported mild to moderate gastrointestinal illness, such as vomiting and diarrhea, and fatigue.

He was eventually discharged after about five months, but McKnight's dad said as of Thursday, he is back in the hospital after experiencing more breathing problems. "They are looking to remove his left lung now. His left lung is completely demolished."

Parents, PLEASE talk to your children.  Do NOT say, "My kid wouldn't do that."  Kids get pressured, kids want to be part of a group and kids like to experiment.  Because of opioids and the use of Fentanyl to "juice up" some drugs, your child may not be taking what he/she thinks. 

Vaping is not having candy or playing with a toy.  Note that story above: that student was an in-shape athlete and vaping wrecked one lung and made him unable to fight off a bug.