Tragic Understatement of the Week: It has some pretty permanent consequences"

Two young North Carolina guys, trying to get high, overdose on "plant food", and die. Autopsy results aren't back yet, but the evidence points to Mephedrone, responsible for about 50 deaths in the UK and now coming to a US town or city near you.

Here's what the Teen Challenge website says about it.

Mephedrone is a stimulant that gives users a euphoric rush that removes inhibition. The effects can last 2 to 4 hours, and depending on method of ingestion, can begin to take effect within 2 to 15 minutes. Side effects of mephedrone, as reported anecdotally by users, are nose bleeds, nose burns, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, paranoia, increased heart rate, anxiety, sweating, cold or blue fingers, and dilated pupils. Aggression has been reported by police.

It took me one minute to dig up the the Teen Challenge information.

Here's the parents' response:

... the guys were just two friends who were hanging out and made a mistake.

Why is it when someone does something wrong -- commits adultery, steals millions from their firm, kills someone in a drag race, it's always just "a mistake"? Ingesting plant food in an effort to get a cheap high is not a mistake. It's an intentional behaviour that is intrinsically risky.  Buying a cartridge that doesn't work on your printer -- that's a mistake.  And why is it that parents are too often unwilling to admit that their children have engaged in either foolish or immoral behaviors?

"It could happen to anybody..." Ausbon's mother Sherri Ausbon said.

No. In order for this to happen to you, you have to be seeking to get high, have to ingest a substance not intended for human consumption, and you have to have made some effort to get it. So it's not going to happen to just anybody. And not everybody's kids are are going to do this.

"You can get it over the internet and you think it's okay, but it's not. It has, obviously, some pretty permanent consequences."

"He wouldn't have done it" Doug Ausbon added. 

But he did. And now, he's dead.  Such a sad, tragic, avoidable waste of a life.

Parents need to raise their kids well, teach them responsibility, teach them about dangers, and refuse to engage in permissive parenting that condones or excuses foolish and risky behaviours.

In other words, parents need to act like conservatives and instil conservative values in their children.

Teach your children well.

My condolences to the parents and loved ones of these two young men. Maybe we can all learn something from this.

Related articles

• NC State student and teen found dead (charlotte.news14.com)
• Study focuses on mephedrone use in Northern Ireland post-ban (eurekalert.org)