Meth Dealers Targeting Kids With New Drugs

Meth dealers really don't care if they kill your kids - even your elementary school kids - because it's all a soulless search for money for them. Just how horrifying these meth dealers are is evidenced by two new drugs, Cheese and Strawberry Quick.

Strawberry Quick looks like strawberry pop rocks (the candy that sizzles and 'pops' in your mouth). It also smells like strawberry and it is being handed out to kids in school yards. But it's a mixture of meth and Kool Aid, according to Fox News.

Kids are ingesting this concoction thinking that it is candy and many of them end up being rushed off to the hospital in dire condition. And all of them get a taste of drugs at an early age, which just shouldn't happen.

It also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange.

Cheese, if anything, is even worse, according to Fox, which says:

Something called “cheese” is killing kids. In August of 2005, no one had even heard of it — so much so, that when a school district police officer first saw a bag of this drug, he thought it was fake. Now officials realize cheese is all too real; at least 21 kids have died from overdosing on it.

Cheese is a combination of black tar heroin and crushed up Tylenol PM tablets and hits of it sell for a buck or two. Like any type of heroin, cheese is highly addictive and deadly. If that’s not enough to scare you, there’s this: drug pushers cooked it up special for kids.

“Traditionally heroin is going to be an adult user drug,” says Dallas Independent School District Officer Jeremy Liebbe. “Black tar heroin is cooked on a spoon, mixed with liquid and injected. Meaning needles. Not many kids are wild about needles, so if you want to market heroin to kids you've got to come up with an alternative to it.”

I know you probably never thought you'd have to warn your elementary school kids about drugs, but those days are over. Let them see these pictures, and tell them what these incredibly bad people are trying to do to them. Tell them that if they see these drugs in their schools to immediately tell their friends they're dangerous, and run tell a teacher!

Strong Energy Drinks Claim A Fatality

Almost every day, people come to my blog to read an old post on Red Line, which I posted after a friend got very sick after drinking the very strong chemical stew posing as an "energy drink."

Many visitors leave comments claiming that the drink poses no danger at all. Perhaps they should consider this news story, which was left in a comment posted on my earlier Red Line post:

Wellington teen dies after consuming alcohol, energy drinks

By Leon Fooksman, Luis F. Perez and Lia Lehrer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
8:44 AM EDT, May 21, 2008

A 16-year-old Wellington student died over the weekend after attending a party where alcohol was consumed, Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators said.

Paramedics who tried to resuscitate Ashley Ramnauth on Sunday found alcohol in her system, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

Ramnauth was a Lake Worth High School honor roll student and the daughter of Hollywood Police Officer Hansman Ramnauth.

She "apparently made a bad decision to consume energy drinks and alcohol in combination," according to a statement from her family released Tuesday through the Palm Beach County School District. She "did not have a lot of experience with alcohol and did not have a known problem with alcohol," the family added

...In March, paramedics took four Weston schoolboys to a hospital after they became ill from drinking an "energy-boosting" liquid not meant for children, authorities said. The boys were sweating and suffering from increased heart rates and lightheadedness. They drank Redline, a combination fat-burning and energy enhancement drink marketed as a "freaky scientific" breakthrough on the Web site of the company that makes it.

There's a news clip about Ashley's death with the news article; it's worth watching.

I'll conclude with how I concluded my earlier post:

There's something definitely wrong here. [Red Line manufacturer] VPX is not taking responsibility for its product and is getting away with it. Seven-11 is not taking responsibility for the products it sells and is also getting away with it.

Please pass this along with a warning. Energy drink drinkers, think about going back to good old coffee or black tea and stay away from this junk.

Here's A Show You Won't Want To Miss!

Be sure to tune in this Friday to E! Television, for the show THS Investigates: Prom Nightmares and airs at 8 Eastern/7 Central (check your local listings).

The 90-minute show offers a warning to parents and prom-going kids about what has happened to other kids who made bad decisions on prom night. It will include a segment on Cathy Isford, a girl who died after taking Ecstasy at her prom.

I included a segment on Cathy, told by her mom, dad and sister on my Voice of the Victim films. It is such a touching and sad story! The tribute her father Paul gives to her is one of the most moving things I've ever seen or heard.

The THS crew used our office to shoot the interviews with the Isford family and me and we're told that Voice of the Victims will get on-screen titles -- and that several million people are likely to watch the show. Since my mission is to get the films into the hands of people who need them, this could be a great moment for Voice of the Victims.

If you're curious, or if you or your kids or your grandkids are at or approaching prom age, this could be a good thing to watch.

And by the way, if you're curious or if you, your kids, etc., are prom age, you should consider getting a copy of the films yourself.

Catch a preview of Prom Nightmares here. The clip doesn't include anything on Cathy, but gives you a pretty good idea of what the story line is: the risks kids put themselves in because of bad choices they make -- and a lot of bad choices are made around prom and graduation.

Trying To Save Angels

No matter how many stories I hear about how drug tragedies tear families apart, I get torn up, as I did with this story out of Pennsylvania:

Tom Hamilton has lots of photographs and memories. His oldest daughter, Melissa, had an infectious smile and was a cheerleader for Central Dauphin and the Big 33. His oldest son, Phillip, was the funny one who kept an eye on younger sister Nina.

"Phillip was always very fun and caring and always protective," Nina said. "I always felt safe. He'd never let anything happen to me."

But Phillip wasn't so protective of himself. In 2004, while partying with friends, Phillip overdosed on Xanax and heroin. He was 25.
Less than 2 years later, Melissa suffered the same fate at 28.

"She said I need this to wake up in the morning - to get through my day," Nina said. "She needed it and that's what heroin does to you."

Tom Hamilton has responded to this tragedy in a way I understand, even though, thank God, I haven't had to live through a tragedy like his: He started a drug education group.

Through his tears and grief, Tom started Saving Angels, a non-profit dedicated to educating kids and parents about the dangers of drugs. "Kids gotta understand that they're harming more than themselves," he said. "It involves parents, other friends, involves all their relatives."

He is so right! Too many parents just don't understand the dangers drugs pose today, and to protect their kids they have to start by educating themselves.

Saving Angels is a local group with an outreach program to schools and groups around Harrisburg PA. If you're in that area, please contact them.

Others can find educational resources at the Voice of the Victims Web site, and much, much more on the Voice of the Victims films.

Elation As Abducted Girl Found

I haven't posted previously on Sharon Matthews, a 9 year old British girl who's been missing for 24 days. Well, she's been found! Watch the excitement, not just of her family but of Sharon's entire town, on hearing the news:


It is impossible to imagine 24 days of waiting in horrified, worry-filled agony for news like this -- but how wonderful that this is the news the Matthews family got.

It's also encouraging that there is also a suspect in custody -- but once again, it's impossible to imagine what the Matthews family is feeling on learning that he is a member of their extended family.

Tussionex Warning!

Washington has noted the dangerous results of using the prescription cough medicine Tussionex as a drug and issued a warning:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health officials issued an alert on Tuesday about reports of life-threatening side effects and deaths among patients, including children, who took UCB SA's prescription cough medicine Tussionex.

The reports indicate doctors sometimes are prescribing, and patients sometimes taking, more than the recommended dose of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Some also are taking the drug more frequently than every 12 hours, the recommended time interval, or giving it to children under age 6, the FDA said. Tussionex is not approved for children younger than 6.

Here's what the RX List has to say about Tussionex. It's technical, so I'll leave all the links in -- and I've highlighted the frightening stuff you should pay attention to!

Serious overdosage with hydrocodone [Tussionex] is characterized by respiratory depression (a decrease in respiratory rate and/or tidal volume, Cheyne-Stokes respiration, cyanosis), extreme somnolence progressing to stupor or coma, skeletal muscle flaccidity, cold and clammy skin, and sometimes bradycardia and hypotension. Although miosis is characteristic of narcotic overdose, mydriasis may occur in terminal narcosis or severe hypoxia. In severe overdosage apnea [stopped or decreased breathing], circulatory collapse, cardiac arrest and death may occur.

Be careful with this and ALL prescription drugs!

Chandler was Found

I am happy to report Chandler was found!

Beth Pearce