A fwd I am glad I did not delete.. I have this stuff sitting on my desk and 4 children in the house!

This story can be confirmed TRUE at
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.asp


       If you have children or grandchildren, PLEASE read this officer's
       story carefully. You can also verify the story at
       http://www.snopes.com/toxins/dustoff.asp
       Dust Off (or a variant of the product) is available everywhere
       there's a computer.

       ------------------------------------
       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 nationwide
       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 him because he likes it.
       I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs into my
       house. Thor wouldn'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 wont.

       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 and
       messing around with them. I yelled at 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
       through 15. They even have a name for it. It's called dusting. A
       take off 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. Its just compressed air. It can't hurt you. His best friend
       said no.

       Kyle was wrong. It's not just compressed air. It also contains a
       propellant called R2. Its a refrigerant like what is used in your
       refrigerator. It is a heavy gas. Heavier than air. When you
       inhale it, it fills your lungs and keeps the good air, with oxygen,
       out. That's why you feel dizzy, buzzed. It decreases the oxygen 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
       Roulette. 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
       within 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's
       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 effected. 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 really care. My kids are messed 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 Officer went to
       the school system next to ours to speak with a student. While there
       he found a student using Dust Off 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 this "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 admitted to it. I know
       that if they would have told the media and I had heard, it wouldn't
       have been in my house.

       We need to get this out of our homes and school computer labs. Using
       Dust Off isn't new and some "professionals" do know about. 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 2:30 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.

       ----------------
       This Officer is asking for everyone who receives this email to
       forward it to everyone in their address book, even Law Enforcement
       Officers.