Via the Berkshire Eagle in Massachusetts:
For the third time, a 32 year old man has been found passed out behind the wheel of his truck with the engine running. A can of computer duster was still in his hand and several empty cans were found nearby.
The same officer that found him also charged him in August 2013 after he was found impaired after allegedly huffing computer duster. The man is currently on probation on charges of negligent operation and driving under the influence from a similar incident in November.
His attorney claims computer duster wasn't included as a drug under the operating under the influence of drugs statute. He also noted his client was an Iraq War veteran who was given a medical discharge for PTSD after 12 years in the Army. The judge released the man on personal recognizance with restrictions.
Blog Report
Showing posts with label military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label military. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Sniffing Legal Substances is Still Against the Rules in the Military
Via Air Force Times
Matthew Tully, a veteran of war responds to a question on military inhalant abuse. A question was posed if military personnel could be punished for getting high off legal substances.
Tully writes,
"Just because products that are innocuous when used appropriately, such as glue, gasoline and nail polish remover, are not designated as controlled substances doesn’t mean service members can inhale or otherwise abuse them without risk of discipline."
Read his full response here.
Matthew Tully, a veteran of war responds to a question on military inhalant abuse. A question was posed if military personnel could be punished for getting high off legal substances.
Tully writes,
"Just because products that are innocuous when used appropriately, such as glue, gasoline and nail polish remover, are not designated as controlled substances doesn’t mean service members can inhale or otherwise abuse them without risk of discipline."
Read his full response here.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Army Veteran Dies After Years of Huffing
Via the Idaho Statesman:
The Medical Examiner has determined that “toxic asphyxia” was the cause of death of 30 year old Aaron David Draper on August 23.
His high school friend first noticed his problem when they “pulled up to the bar and his girlfriend was in sheer panic mode because she couldn’t find him.” He said he had a stomachache and was going to the store to get something for it. They soon found him behind the bar, passed out after huffing keyboard cleaner. After that friends note his addiction seemed to worsen.
On August 22, his girlfriend dropped him off at the bus station. He was on his way to visit his high school friend. His high school friend texted him to say she would pick him up so he wouldn’t have to take the bus but it was too late. At 6:38 am a county worker noticed his body at the bus stop.
Officers found him “face down against a fence, his skin ashy and discolored.” The police report states that next to him was a can of keyboard cleaner and an opened wrapper for a two-pack of computer duster and the officer wrote "I observed that under the body slightly protruding from under the left side was second matching can. The second can appeared to be in the hand of the deceased."
The Medical Examiner has determined that “toxic asphyxia” was the cause of death of 30 year old Aaron David Draper on August 23.
The
article notes the man had started abusing inhalants in the Army, as a release
from pain from a wound he suffered in a 2005 explosion in Iraq. “He couldn't kick the habit. He got married and had a baby,
but he kept huffing to ease the nightmares he believed post-traumatic stress
disorder caused. He quit, got divorced and started again.” In
2011 he told a reporter that he believed he would die if he couldn’t overcome
his addiction.
Even after treatment at the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Boise, from
April 2011 and February 2012 his arrest record shows 12 huffing related
arrests. On one occasion police found him outside a Wal-Mart with dozens of
cans of keyboard cleaner surrounding him. His high school friend first noticed his problem when they “pulled up to the bar and his girlfriend was in sheer panic mode because she couldn’t find him.” He said he had a stomachache and was going to the store to get something for it. They soon found him behind the bar, passed out after huffing keyboard cleaner. After that friends note his addiction seemed to worsen.
On August 22, his girlfriend dropped him off at the bus station. He was on his way to visit his high school friend. His high school friend texted him to say she would pick him up so he wouldn’t have to take the bus but it was too late. At 6:38 am a county worker noticed his body at the bus stop.
Officers found him “face down against a fence, his skin ashy and discolored.” The police report states that next to him was a can of keyboard cleaner and an opened wrapper for a two-pack of computer duster and the officer wrote "I observed that under the body slightly protruding from under the left side was second matching can. The second can appeared to be in the hand of the deceased."
Friday, December 30, 2011
He Started Huffing in Iraq
Via the Idaho Statesman:
A 28 year-old Army veteran first tried huffing computer dusters while stationed in Iraq. This past July 19 he was found in a field, surrounded by 42 cans of computer duster spray that he had stolen from Wal-Mart. The only thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital.
The article points out that a 2008 story “that ran in “Knowledge,” which calls itself the official safety magazine of the U.S. Army, reported that 47 members of the U.S. armed forces had died of inhalant use since 1998, more than half of them soldiers.” It also notes that the Department of Defense issued a release in October 2010 warning soldiers about huffing.
The army veteran says he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2005 and his prescriptions weren’t helping to ease his headaches so he turned to computer dusters. He points out “It was very prevalent in the military. It’s readily available, and there is no drug test for it. It’s so fast-acting, it doesn’t leave a trace in your blood and urine.”
After reading about the dangers of huffing he stopped but two years later once he returned home he turned to dusters to help relieve PTSD induced nightmares. He quit after his wife threatened to kick him out and got outpatient treatment through the VA but started again after he got divorced.
His parents set him up with inpatient treatment at the VA hospital in Idaho but he soon started huffing once released. Police records show he was charged with “misdemeanor intoxication by inhalation of a toxic substance eight times between April and May” but he didn’t recall much of the incidents so never followed up. It led to jail time on a failure to appear in court which cost him his job and a chance to get back into a VA rehab program. Soon after he was found in the field with the 42 cans of computer dusting spray.
He was released from the hospital and went back to Washington state to get treatment for PTSD. He turned himself in on the burglary charge for the stolen dusters and plead guilty to the lesser charge of misdemeanor petit theft. His message to teens is “Don’t try inhalants. Ever. “I want to be done with it,” he said. “(Huffing) ruined my marriage, it ruined a lot of my friendships. It’s almost ruined my relationship with my parents.”
A 28 year-old Army veteran first tried huffing computer dusters while stationed in Iraq. This past July 19 he was found in a field, surrounded by 42 cans of computer duster spray that he had stolen from Wal-Mart. The only thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital.
The article points out that a 2008 story “that ran in “Knowledge,” which calls itself the official safety magazine of the U.S. Army, reported that 47 members of the U.S. armed forces had died of inhalant use since 1998, more than half of them soldiers.” It also notes that the Department of Defense issued a release in October 2010 warning soldiers about huffing.
The army veteran says he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2005 and his prescriptions weren’t helping to ease his headaches so he turned to computer dusters. He points out “It was very prevalent in the military. It’s readily available, and there is no drug test for it. It’s so fast-acting, it doesn’t leave a trace in your blood and urine.”
After reading about the dangers of huffing he stopped but two years later once he returned home he turned to dusters to help relieve PTSD induced nightmares. He quit after his wife threatened to kick him out and got outpatient treatment through the VA but started again after he got divorced.
His parents set him up with inpatient treatment at the VA hospital in Idaho but he soon started huffing once released. Police records show he was charged with “misdemeanor intoxication by inhalation of a toxic substance eight times between April and May” but he didn’t recall much of the incidents so never followed up. It led to jail time on a failure to appear in court which cost him his job and a chance to get back into a VA rehab program. Soon after he was found in the field with the 42 cans of computer dusting spray.
He was released from the hospital and went back to Washington state to get treatment for PTSD. He turned himself in on the burglary charge for the stolen dusters and plead guilty to the lesser charge of misdemeanor petit theft. His message to teens is “Don’t try inhalants. Ever. “I want to be done with it,” he said. “(Huffing) ruined my marriage, it ruined a lot of my friendships. It’s almost ruined my relationship with my parents.”
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Arrested For Huffing Cleaner in Massachusetts
Via Taunton Daily Gazette in Massachusetts:
Last week a 28 year-old man was arrested for allegedly “sniffing an industrial strength cleaner while parked behind an adult entertainment store.” He was charged with driving with a suspended license and inhaling glue/a toxic substance.
An employee had called police after seeing the man slumped over the steering wheel of his car. The officer recognized the man from two previous huffing related incidents in July and August and asked him to exit the car. The police report notes the man was “completely unbalanced as he attempted to walk” and “had no idea where he was or what he was doing.” The officer shut the car off and noticed the duster on the center console. Once the man came to he admitted to using the product to get high.
In the previous cases the man admitted he had huffed in the military (Army) from which he had been discharged in July. After the second case the police filed “immediate threat” request with the Registry of Motor Vehicles to have the suspect’s license suspended.”
Last week a 28 year-old man was arrested for allegedly “sniffing an industrial strength cleaner while parked behind an adult entertainment store.” He was charged with driving with a suspended license and inhaling glue/a toxic substance.
An employee had called police after seeing the man slumped over the steering wheel of his car. The officer recognized the man from two previous huffing related incidents in July and August and asked him to exit the car. The police report notes the man was “completely unbalanced as he attempted to walk” and “had no idea where he was or what he was doing.” The officer shut the car off and noticed the duster on the center console. Once the man came to he admitted to using the product to get high.
In the previous cases the man admitted he had huffed in the military (Army) from which he had been discharged in July. After the second case the police filed “immediate threat” request with the Registry of Motor Vehicles to have the suspect’s license suspended.”
Friday, January 16, 2009
New Air Force Order Includes Inhalants
From Stars and Stripes Newspaper in Washington DC:
Earlier this month, U.S. Air Forces Europe commander Gen. Roger Brady issued an order banning a range of substances including inhalants. The new order “bans airmen from sniffing, snorting or huffing household and commercial products such as glues, lighter and cleaning fluids, paint products and medical anesthetics.”
The press release noted that no one had been “court-martialed in USAFE for any offense related to using salvia and the other drugs under the ban” but that the order was issued more as a proactive means. "We don’t see that we have a problem in USAFE, [Gen. Brady] wanted to give commanders in the field a tool to get ahead of this emerging problem. We are seeing a problem in the States.”
Earlier this month, U.S. Air Forces Europe commander Gen. Roger Brady issued an order banning a range of substances including inhalants. The new order “bans airmen from sniffing, snorting or huffing household and commercial products such as glues, lighter and cleaning fluids, paint products and medical anesthetics.”
The press release noted that no one had been “court-martialed in USAFE for any offense related to using salvia and the other drugs under the ban” but that the order was issued more as a proactive means. "We don’t see that we have a problem in USAFE, [Gen. Brady] wanted to give commanders in the field a tool to get ahead of this emerging problem. We are seeing a problem in the States.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Soldier Admits Using Inhalants
From WPXI in Pittsburgh:
There’s an interesting inhalant reference within the article about post-traumatic stress disorder and soldiers.
A soldier who spent the last 17 years in the military notes “the summer of 2006, he returned from Iraq and that's when his troubles began.”
He states, "I started using inhalants, and anything I could.”
There’s an interesting inhalant reference within the article about post-traumatic stress disorder and soldiers.
A soldier who spent the last 17 years in the military notes “the summer of 2006, he returned from Iraq and that's when his troubles began.”
He states, "I started using inhalants, and anything I could.”
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Former Soldier Killed by Inhalants
The FayObserver in Fayetteville, NC reports that a combination of prescription pills and computer cleaner recently took the life of Joseph Patrick Dwyer.
31 year old Dwyer was a “former Army medic who became famous after he was photographed helping a wounded Iraqi boy.”
Three years ago, in an interview with Newsday, “Dwyer and his friends admitted that Dwyer abused inhalants.”
Capt. Floyd Thomas of the Pinehurst Police Department states that “bottles of pills and a canister of computer cleaner were found near Dwyer when police entered his home this past Saturday.”
“Dwyer had called transportation on Saturday night to take him to the hospital after an apparent overdose. When the cab driver arrived, Dwyer was lying on the floor. Dwyer told the driver he could not get to the door, according to the police report.The driver called police, who kicked in the door of the Longleaf Drive home at Dwyer’s request.”
“Help me, please,” Dwyer told police through his front door. “I’m dying. Help me. I can’t breathe.”
After being loaded into an ambulance, medics performed CPR, according to the police report. He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
31 year old Dwyer was a “former Army medic who became famous after he was photographed helping a wounded Iraqi boy.”Three years ago, in an interview with Newsday, “Dwyer and his friends admitted that Dwyer abused inhalants.”
Capt. Floyd Thomas of the Pinehurst Police Department states that “bottles of pills and a canister of computer cleaner were found near Dwyer when police entered his home this past Saturday.”
“Dwyer had called transportation on Saturday night to take him to the hospital after an apparent overdose. When the cab driver arrived, Dwyer was lying on the floor. Dwyer told the driver he could not get to the door, according to the police report.The driver called police, who kicked in the door of the Longleaf Drive home at Dwyer’s request.”
“Help me, please,” Dwyer told police through his front door. “I’m dying. Help me. I can’t breathe.”
After being loaded into an ambulance, medics performed CPR, according to the police report. He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Huffing Inhalants in the Military
This morning's news alerts held a sad piece that happened to reference inhalant abuse in the military - specifically with a specific company in Iraq:
“Seems like a pretty good company on the surface, but there are a lot of issues that have come out recently which would make you think otherwise,” McKinney wrote to a friend in an e-mail. “I’ve got guys getting drunk in sector, dudes taking drugs, huffing inhalants, stealing and one who will probably get court-martialed.”
“Seems like a pretty good company on the surface, but there are a lot of issues that have come out recently which would make you think otherwise,” McKinney wrote to a friend in an e-mail. “I’ve got guys getting drunk in sector, dudes taking drugs, huffing inhalants, stealing and one who will probably get court-martialed.”
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