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WE'RE A NONPROFIT DEDICATED TO PROMOTING A DRUG-FREE LIFESTYLE THROUGH EXTREME SPORTS!

The FEARLESS movement was created after witnessing countless people lose their life to drugs, but instead of blaming the drug everyone keeps using the same mind-altering substance that killed their friend!

If you had a friend who lost their life to cancer, would you try to give yourself cancer and ingest chemicals and toxins because you believed you could keep it from killing you? Of course not, but unfortunately the current mindset the public has towards drugs and alcohol is exactly like that.

We challenge you to dump alcohol and drugs and start living the FEARLESS life. Regain control of your mind and body and help us fight back against the thing that is killing your friends!

By partnering with great organizations, we offer alternatives to society’s mind-altering substances, and we can prove life is better when drug-free!

Breaking News:

The following real life stories will invoke a range of emotions from anger to heartache. However they all have one thing in common. None of these events would have happened if not for drugs!

ADULTS

TEENAGERS

CHILDREN

BABIES

ADULTS

TEENAGERS

CHILDREN

BABIES

Man, high on pot candy, gets 30 years prison for killing wife

DENVER — A Denver man who pleaded guilty to killing his wife while he was high on marijuana edibles was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.

Richard Kirk, now 50, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder, changing his not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity plea in the April 14, 2014, homicide. He was set to go to trial on first-degree murder charges and was facing life in prison.

Kirk shot his 44-year-old wife, Kristine, in the head while she was on the phone with a 911 operator, telling that person she was scared because her husband seemed drunk and was going into their gun safe. The couple’s three sons were in the home when it happened.

The youngest, age 7, saw his father shoot his mother. Richard Kirk, married to his wife for 15 years, walked into the child’s room and tried to hand the gun to his son, asking the boy to kill him, police said.

As part of the plea agreement, Richard Kirk agreed to relinquish parental rights to his children. Kris Kirk’s parents have adopted them.

“Just recently he’s been able to go to bed alone a few times a week,” said Kris Kirk’s mom, Marti Kohnke, said of the youngest child, now 10. “For a number of years, I would lay next to him. I would tell him stories.

“He would beg me to get the picture out of his head,” Kohnke said. ” ‘I can’t get the picture out of my head. Can you just help me get that picture out of my head?’ he’d ask.”

Police found a receipt for marijuana-infused candy and a partially eaten Karma Kandy Orange Ginger chew in the family’s home.

If Richard Kirk had gone to trial, his defense team was planning to claim that the marijuana caused delirium and psychotic symptoms. Though police also found an empty bottle of an opioid pain killer, hydrocodone, in the house, toxicology tests later found that Richard Kirk had only a small amount of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot, in his system.

One piece of Karma Kandy has more than 100 milligrams of THC; 10 milligrams is Colorado’s definition of one edible dose of THC. The state’s legal threshold to be considered driving impaired is 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood; Richard Kirk’s test results showed 2.3 nanograms.

The Kirks’ sons have a wrongful-death lawsuit pending against the company that manufactured the edible and the store where Richard Kirk bought the candy.

The Kohnkes say that all was not well with the Kirks’ marriage before Richard Kirk killed their daughter. They witnessed his emotional abuse toward her and never really got along with their son-in-law.

Three months before the shooting, Kris Kirk told her parents that she was going to leave her husband. But it was not clear whether she ever told Richard Kirk.

“Our lives changed 100%” after the shooting, said Kohnke, who’s 70. “We now have the responsibility of putting three boys through college, raising three children. It’s a heavy responsibility and a very big worry.”

They now are ages 16, 14 and 10.

Marti and Wayne Kohnke worry about their age — and living long enough to make sure that the boys grow to adulthood. If they die, Kris Kirk’s sister, Tammy Heman, will be their new mom; she left her job right after the shooting to take care of the boys.

Now the Kohnkes’ hope that Richard Kirk’s 30-year sentence and five years of probation will be enough to keep the boys’ father incarcerated until the children are well into adulthood. They agreed to the plea deal so the children would not have to testify against their father.

“People tell us we’re remarkable and all that. We’re not,” Marti Kohnke said. “We are just a normal family. Wayne and I. I don’t believe there’s any grandparent out there who wouldn’t do what we have done.”

Face-Eating Attack Possibly Prompted by 'Bath Salts,' Authorities Suspect

MIAMI, May 29, 2012 — Miami police suspect that what caused a 31-year-old man to rip off his clothes and viciously gnaw on the face of another man in a daylight attack on a busy highway is a new and extremely dangerous street drug known as “bath salts.”

A Miami police officer shot Rudy Eugene Saturday after repeated pleas for him stop eating another man’s face. His demands were met with only growls. Eugene continued, and it took four bullets to kill and finally stop him as witnesses watched in horror.

According to police little remained of the victim’s face, with 75 percent of it eaten away rendering him almost unrecognizable. One source says all that remained was blood and the victim’s goatee. ABC News affiliate WPLG identified the victim as Ronald Poppo.

Police have not officially connected Eugene’s behavior to “bath salts,” but experts say he was exhibiting the classic signs of someone high on the drug.

Armando Aguilar, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of police, who has been in contact with the officer who killed Eugene, says the similarities between this and other recent cases involving “bath salts” are striking.

“The cases are similar minus a man eating another. People taking off their clothes. People suddenly have super human strength,” says Aguilar. “They become violent and they are burning up for the inside. Their organs are reaching a level that most would die. By the time police approach them they are a walking dead person.”

According to WPLG, the victim was a 65 year-old, apparently homeless man who was living near the causeway where the attack occurred.

Eugene, who was believed to be homeless, left few clues behind as to what led to the attack. Court records show that although he was arrested several times, they were for minor offenses. His ex-wife described him as having violent tendencies, but is shocked by the attack.

As investigators pour over surveillance video and continue soliciting the public’s help in solving this case, many are looking to “bath salts” as the potential trigger of this vicious attack.

According to Aguilar one of the recent cases in Miami involving “bath salts,” which is becoming increasingly popular in the party scene, involved someone trying to bite another, but police were able to get there in time. Most have involved individuals behaving incredibly irrationally and nearly impossible to control.

“There was another incident after the popular Ultra Festival where a guy was walking around naked, and was hit by a taxi. He jumped on top of the taxi, beat the people inside. It took 15 officers to stop him, and as he was being tasered, he was begging them to shoot and kill him,” says Aguilar. “But because we had that many officers we were able to subdue him and take him to the hospital where they basically froze him.”

Dr. Paul Adams, an emergency physician at the Jackson Memorial Rider Trauma Center in Miami where the cannibal victim is being treated, says instances of virtually uncontrollable patients being brought in exhibiting signs of psychosis due to this new drug have spiked during the last year.
“You can call it the new LSD. It’s a recreational drug,” says Adams. “They [patients] seem to be unaware of their surroundings. They are not rational, very aggressive and are stronger than they usually are. In the emergency room it usually takes four to five people to control them, and we have had a couple of people breaking out of restraints.”

Adams says he believes there have been at least several hundred South Florida cases alone in the last year of people coming in usually in their twenties and thirties on the drug.

Mom Loses Son, 19, to Suicide and Warns Others of High-Potency Marijuana Addiction: "I'm So Angry"

Laura Stack's son Johnny died by suicide after five years of addiction to high-potency marijuana

(NewsNation) — As the legalization of recreational marijuana spreads, a growing body of research suggests there could be a possible risk between the drug and serious mental health issues.

There is a concern about a possible link between cannabis, psychosis and schizophrenia, and the research suggests those at the highest risk are young men.

Laura and John Stack are still coming to terms with the suicide of their son in 2019 when he was 19. The Stacks live in Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana in 2012. They say their son, Johnny, became a regular user in his teens.

“He would say, ‘What do you want mom and dad, I have a 4.0.’ And it was kind of hard to argue with that. And he didn’t seem to have any problems until he did,” Laura said.

Compounding his problems, Johnny was also using pot products made with extracts that produce no tell-tale smell.

“He had started vaping. And it was completely odorless. And from about the age of 14 through 16, we had no idea at all,” John said.

By 18, Johnny was a heavy user and exhibiting symptoms of psychosis.

“He started to think that people were listening to him through his iPhone, he would buy burner phones and put sticky notes over the webcam,” Laura said. “He was saying that people were watching him, he began to think that the mob was after him.”

Since the spread of legalization over the past decade, a number of studies have looked into the health impacts of marijuana.

The latest is a Danish study co-authored by a director at the National Institute of Health.

“If it does produce psychosis and acute psychotic episodes, that can lead (to symptoms) that can be very, very terrifying. Someone could basically kill themselves in a very impulsive act,” Dr. Nora Volkow said.

In the study, published in “Psychological Medicine,” researchers said there’s enough data to confirm an “association between cannabis use and schizophrenia.

The data revealed that, in males, cannabis use disorder increased the probability of being diagnosed with schizophrenia by almost 2.5 times. Focusing on males between 16 and 20, the associated risk was even higher, with males with cannabis use disorder nearly four times as likely to have a schizophrenia diagnosis.

Comparatively, in females, cannabis use disorder only doubled the risk of schizophrenia overall. Focusing on the 16–20 group, the risk was slightly less than double.

“That period of transition between the pre-teens and the 20s, is exactly when you start to see the emergence of schizophrenia, but the risks are significantly higher for males than females,” Volkow said.

Marijuana legalization has ushered in a new generation of potent pot, which contains much more THC, the part of the plant that induces a high.

Back in the 1970s, the average plant had a THC level under 3%. Genetic engineering over the decades has pushed that average up to nearly 25%.

Dr. Christine Miller is a neurobiologist and psychosis expert.

“They’ve done studies in Europe where they’ve administered purified THC to subjects in a clinical study and they found that 40% of those with no family history of psychosis developed psychotic symptoms.

Recreational sales are now legal in 22 states, along with Washington, D.C. Only Vermont and Connecticut have caps on potency.

Three days before Johnny died, the Stacks said he told them he was sorry and he loved them, but marijuana ruined his mind and his life.

On the night Johnny Stack decided to take his life in November 2019, he drove his car to the top floor a six-story parking garage near his home in Lone Tree, Colo., turned off the engine and sat there staring at the numbers on his odometer.

The 19-year-old college student and math whiz snapped a photo of the mileage reading and posted it, along with a cryptic message, on Snapchat. Then 40 minutes later Stack walked to the ledge and jumped to his death.

Johnny fell from the top of the parking garage at RTD’s Lincoln Station in Lone Tree. His death was ruled a suicide and his behavior suggests he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

“There was a video camera in the garage,” says Johnny’s mom, trying to choke back tears while recounting her son’s final moments in an interview in PEOPLE.

“But I can’t watch it. They say he stood there with his arms spread out like he thought he was going to fly off the building. And now he’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

While she can’t bring back her son, Laura has worked tirelessly since his tragic death to try and prevent what happened to Johnny from happening to others.

“What happened to him is 100 percent preventable,” she says. “I know that with all my heart.”

Johnny’s death is part of a frightening trend in Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use for those over 21 in 2012.

Between 2017 and 2019, the number of teens smoking or dabbing (when the drug is inhaled after being vaporized with a butane torch) high-potency concentrates known as shatter, wax and budder, rose from 20.3 percent to 52 percent, according to a recent study.

“This isn’t the same marijuana that people were using at Woodstock or in the early 1980s that had about 4 percent THC,” says Dr. Chris Rogers, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has seen increasing numbers of teen users with depression and suicidal thoughts admitted to his clinic in Aurora, Colo.

Even more alarming, in the last five years THC (the chemical that gives pot its “high”) is the number one drug found in the blood of teen suicide victims.

High-potency products can contain up to 90 percent THC. These concentrates can also have devastating effects on users’ mental health, leading to depression, suicidal ideation, psychosis, and schizophrenia.

According to Dr. Chris Rogers, the Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services at the HealthOne Behavioral Health Campus in Aurora, suicide is the number one cause of death in Colorado for youth, ages ten through 19. And the number one substance found in their toxicology reports is THC, not alcohol.

“The data is very suggestive that your risk of having suicidal thoughts and potential suicide attempts also increases with the potency of cannabis,” Dr. Rogers said. “So, the younger you are and the higher the potency THC products you use seems to correlate to your risk for worsening depression and suicidality later in life. And then the higher the potency gets, it is fairly compelling that your risk of psychosis goes up somewhere between four- and six-fold with each use. The risk of addiction also seems to be correlated with that, such that we believe the data would suggest that one out of every 11 adults who try current cannabis products are destined to then become addicted. One out of every six adolescents … will go on to form a true cannabis use disorder or a cannabis addiction.”

Rogers works to increase awareness of how harmful today’s marijuana products can be, particularly for younger populations. And like Laura Stack, he combats misinformation from the cannabis industry and marijuana culture in general.

“A whole generation of Coloradans have been raised to think marijuana is medicine,” Rogers said. “And that’s one of the most alarming trends that we combat on a daily basis. I have kids as young as 12 years old who tell me they use high potency products such as wax, shatter, dabs, things that are basically rock marijuana. It’s THC distilled down into 80%-plus forms using butane and other harsh chemicals. And you use a glass pipe with a blowtorch similar to smoking crack cocaine or any rock product. And they use this nightly to help them fall asleep as if it were NyQuil and they don’t see any harm in it. The harm is evident since I’m obviously talking to them in an inpatient psychiatric unit.”

Both Dr. Rogers and Laura Stack point to how rapidly the marijuana industry has developed THC products that older Americans wouldn’t even recognize. And they say the potency of today’s best sellers are having devastating effects, especially in children.

“You can ingest marijuana any which way you think might be fun and we have no idea. This includes tinctures, edibles, vaporizers, suppositories, THC-infused tampons … there are no guardrails. If it’s got THC and you can make it, you can pretty much sell it in the state,” Rogers said. “These are products that kids describe much closer to like a heroin or methamphetamine addiction. They can’t stop thinking about using these products even though they know it’s ruining their lives. They can’t focus on their friendships, their relationships, their school. They also cannot stop using because it is that potent of an addiction.”

Rogers and Stack also highlight how easily children are getting and hiding their use of these products.

“Things like marijuana vaporizer devices … that look like an albuterol inhaler. So, I can look like I’m treating my asthma in the middle of class and I’m getting crazy high to the point that teachers talk about kids falling out of their desks,” Rogers said. “The market share of these high potency products has skyrocketed over the available time that we have data: 170% increase in market share between 2014 and 2016. The marijuana industry knows that if they can hook kids before their brains are fully developed, their chances of having a lifelong user are much greater. So, they’re exquisitely prone to becoming addicted.”

“These kids are fully aware of who the seniors are, who’s 18, who has their medical marijuana card and who’s selling,” Stack said. “It’s simple for kids here to get marijuana … it’s perfectly legal for an 18-year-old to go into a dispensary with a med card and buy marijuana and then sell it. So, we call this sometimes the gray market. It’s legal to purchase, illegal to sell it. But, people have the mistaken impression that these kids are getting it on the street or they’re getting it from the black market, or they’re paying somebody five bucks to go in and buy it for them. They don’t have to do that. They just get it from their classmates. They get it from their older brothers and sisters. Sadly, they get it from their parents.”

By 18, Johnny had obtained his own med card without his parents’ knowledge. After he died, the Stacks discovered pictures and videos on Johnny’s Snapchat account that suggest he was also selling marijuana products to younger children.

“He had no mental health, no physical health, no conditions that he should have been able to even get one,” Laura said. “We don’t even know who gave it to him because they protect the doctors… You can say, ‘oh, I have a migraine’ or ‘I have a backache,’ and you can get a medical marijuana card when you’re 18 and legally go into the dispensaries and buy this stuff that’s so toxic. And they don’t know because everyone wants them to be addicted in the marijuana industry because their primary consumer is that 18- to 24-year-old age group … it’s addiction for profit.”

Dr. Rogers admits parents are outmanned and outgunned by commercialized marijuana. “You’re fighting against … a multi-billion-dollar industry that is targeting your child, that is intentionally doing everything they can to change the narrative, to say this is safe, this is good, give it a shot. Let’s make it more enticing. Let’s make it more empowering, more euphoric,” Rogers said. “I think if you sit down with Laura Stack and try to say, ‘that’s a parenting problem,’ you’re either delusionally high or you just are a heartless human because these people love the hell out of their kids. They do everything they can for them, and they’re still losing kids by the hundreds to these addictive properties.”

Johnny’s family scattered his ashes in Hawaii the February after his death on what would have been his 20th birthday. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leaving the Stacks to mourn in isolation.

“And then I got really angry living here in Colorado and just the availability of this drug and these dabs, these concentrates, these vapes, these edibles. And these kids don’t have any idea how potent this stuff is and how it’s harming their brains,” Laura said. “And everyone wants them to believe it’s so natural and harmless. And it’s legal. It must be safe. Just all the false narratives that these kids buy into, that these adults are telling them and not protecting them.”

For the next six months, Laura wrote about Johnny. She produced 300 pages. “I wrote his life and death story in a way that I hoped other people would recognize their children and hopefully save them. Can’t save Johnny, but we can maybe keep it from happening to someone else,” she said. “So amazing how many people call me and they say, ‘I read your story and you can substitute my son with yours. And it’s the same story.’”

Johnny was 14 when he first tried marijuana at a party. It was 2014, the year Colorado became the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana use for people 21 and older. Voters had passed Amendment 64 two years prior to full commercialization.

Johnny’s parents dismissed his first encounter with marijuana as a relatively harmless bump in the road. They admit they had no idea their son had begun a journey toward addiction. “I thought to myself, you know, it’s just weed, right? I used it. It didn’t hurt me. I had no idea how wrong I was,” Laura said. “It’s the dirty little secret of the marijuana industry that these high potency products can trigger psychosis in youth. There’s a campaign of confusion. They want to cast doubt on any study that comes out that hints that THC in the developing brain can actually cause mental illness and schizophrenia-like psychosis with delusional thinking.”

Johnny tried to stop using marijuana a couple of times. Laura says during those breaks he would recover. But he kept going back. He would eventually be diagnosed with THC abuse severe. “That was his diagnosis,” Laura said. “He had no other drugs in his system. It wasn’t laced with anything. This wasn’t the black market.”

“Marijuana took my boy’s life and I’m so angry,” say Laura, who now spends 80 hours a week talking to teens and parents via webinars and conferences about the dangers of concentrates.

“This is my mission now because I missed everything — and I didn’t know anything.”

In May of 2020, Laura founded Johnny’s Ambassadors. The nonprofit educates parents, teens and communities about the dangers of today’s high THC products, particularly on adolescent brain development, mental illness and suicide. She travels across the country with her husband John, who says he mourned Johnny’s death differently.

“I am proud that [Laura has] channeled her abilities into this direction,” John Stack said. “It took me a year at least to even be able to have this discussion.”

John and Laura Stack still marvel at how much marijuana changed their son. Before, he was busy with school and sports. He ran cross-country and track, played soccer and was a brown-green belt in karate. He had a 4.0 GPA until his very last semester of high school and scored a perfect 800 in math on his SAT, graduating with a scholarship to Colorado State University. He played the piano and guitar, participated in service projects and had a heart for the homeless.

John remembers the strained relationship he had with Johnny before his death. He chalked it up to typical teenage behavior. “I always thought that we had time,” John Stack said. “I always thought that, you know, someday we would laugh about some of the things that happened when he was a teenager. And I never got that chance.”

Texas teen Ethan Couch gets 10 years’ probation for driving drunk, killing 4

CNN — To the families of the victims, Ethan Couch was a killer on the road, a drunken teenage driver who caused a crash that left four people dead.

To the defense, the youth is himself a victim – of “affluenza,” according to one psychologist – the product of wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits for the boy.

To a judge, who sentenced Couch to 10 years’ probation but no jail time, he’s a defendant in need of treatment.

The decision disappointed prosecutors and stunned victims’ family members, who say they feel that Couch got off too easy. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum of 20 years behind bars.

“Let’s face it. … There needs to be some justice here,” Eric Boyles, who lost his wife and daughter, told CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” on Wednesday night.

“For 25 weeks, I’ve been going through a healing process. And so when the verdict came out, I mean, my immediate reaction is – I’m back to week 1. We have accomplished nothing here. My healing process is out the window,” he said.

Lawyers for Couch, 16, had argued that the teen’s parents should share part of the blame for the crash because they never set limits for the boy and gave him everything he wanted.

According to CNN affiliate WFAA, a psychologist called by the defense described Couch as a product of “affluenza.”

He reportedly testified that the teen’s family felt wealth bought privilege, and that Couch’s life could be turned around with one to two years of treatment and no contact with his parents.

Couch was sentenced by a juvenile court judge Tuesday. If he violates the terms of his probation, he could face up to 10 years of incarceration, according to a statement from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Jean Boyd told the court she would not release Couch to his parents, but would work to find the teen a long-term treatment facility.

“There are absolutely no consequences for what occurred that day,” said Boyles. “The primary message has to absolutely be that money and privilege can’t buy justice in this country.”

His wife, Hollie Boyles, and daughter, Shelby, left their home to help Breanna Mitchell, whose SUV had broken down. Brian Jennings, a youth pastor, was driving past and also stopped to help.

All four were killed when the teen’s pickup plowed into the pedestrians on a road in Burleson, south of Fort Worth. Couch’s vehicle also struck a parked car, which then slid into another vehicle headed in the opposite direction.

Two people riding in the bed of the teen’s pickup were tossed in the crash and severely injured.

One is no longer able to move or talk because of a brain injury, while the other suffered internal injuries and broken bones.

Drunk Driving Ends in Tragedy when Teen Kills Her Best Friend

“My name is Jessica Rasdall, and on February 25, 2006, I killed my best friend.” These are the words Jessica Rasdall speaks over and over again. Over the last three years, she’s said these words to more than 15,000 people in a speech that describes the minute details of the tragic night when she drove drunk and veered off the road in an accident that killed her best friend, Laura Ann Gorman.

Jessica and Laura met in kindergarten and were inseparable ever since. At the time of the accident, they were both 18-year-old college freshmen working at a Hooters restaurant near St. Petersburg, Florida, where they grew up. “We were complete opposites but so much alike,” Rasdall said. “I was the short one, she’s the tall one. I was the brunette, she’s the blond. You couldn’t help but be happy and smile when you’re with her.”

On the night of February 26, the two decided to go out dancing after work at a bar; that night, women 18 and over got in for free. While they were dancing, Rasdall says, a male employee at the club waved them over to the bar and asked if they were 21, adding that it didn’t matter if they were or not. According to Rasdall, he then ordered them drinks and suggested that they do shots. “It was a really weird feeling,” she said, “almost like, well, this guy works here and he’s saying it’s OK, we’re allowed to do this.”

The girls left the club at 3 am; Rasdall said they didn’t even think twice about getting in the car. They began the 40-minute drive home and then, one mile from Laura’s dorm at Eckerd College, Rasdall drove the car off the interstate and down a hill, crashing into a tree. Rasdall said that when she woke up in the car, she didn’t know where she was or who she had been with. “I saw somebody was sitting in my passenger seat. The person’s face was turned away from me. I shook her arm. And deep down I knew the person next to me was dead.”

Paramedics had to use the Jaws of Life to free Rasdall from the car and then rushed her to the hospital. There was a large gash on the side of her head and her left ear was hanging off. As she was being prepared for surgery, Rasdall overheard a police officer talking to her mother, describing a purse that belonged to Gorman. It was then that Rasdall realized what had happened. She remembers screaming at the top of her lungs, saying “Not Laura! Why not me?” She screamed, over and over again, “I killed my best friend!”

The day that Rasdall was released from the hospital, Gorman was placed in a mausoleum. The Gormans told the Rasdalls not to come to the funeral, Rasdall said. “I’ve sent cards, letters, flowers, saying how sorry I am. But they’re not ready.” According to the case’s prosecutor Khonsari, Laura was the second child the Gormans had lost—their son died as a baby. “They were a mess,” Khonsari said, “and they continue to be angry today.” The Gormans and the Rasdalls, once close, no longer speak.

A blood sample that was given to law enforcement showed that Rasdall’s blood alcohol content was nearly one-and-a-half times the legal limit, making it clear that the crash was the result of driving under the influence. One month after the accident, Rasdall was arrested on charges of DUI manslaughter.

Although Rasdall admits her guilt publicly, she pleaded not guilty in court in the hopes of avoiding prison time. As she awaited the trial, Rasdall spent most of her days in her bedroom, surrounded by pictures of Laura. She rarely went out, and when she did, her parents drove her to classes at the University of South Florida. Rasdall says she hasn’t driven or touched alcohol since the accident.

Rasdall’s therapist, Dr. Kim Costello, said Rasdall suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has one of the worst cases of survivor’s guilt that she’s ever diagnosed. As part of Rasdall’s therapy and recovery, they came up with a plan for Rasdall to share her story and warn others of the dangers of drunk driving. Since then, she has spoken to more than 15,000 people in schools and community centers. “I began to see Jessica evolve and come back out of her shell,” Costello told “20/20.” “You can’t be insincere and touch this many people. She’s changing lives.” But the victim’s parents are convinced that Rasdall’s speeches aren’t genuine, and that an attempt to gain leniency from the court.

The Rasdalls sent thousands of letters of support for their daughter to the judge and suggested that there were mitigating circumstances that may have caused the crash. But witnesses suggest that this wasn’t an isolated incident. A friend of Rasdall’s and Gorman’s reluctantly testified and recalled a different night when Rasdall was drunk behind the wheel and vomited on herself while driving, at which point the friend ordered her to pull over.

In court, Rasdall asked for leniency because of her good work. Prior to this, she told “20/20,” “Me going to prison isn’t going to bring Laura back. The only thing it’s going to do is stop me from talking to people about it. And I can save a life, not end one.” The judge sentenced her to four years in prison, and she is currently incarcerated at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Central Florida. “I never feel sorry for myself,” she said nine months after her incarceration began. “I don’t deserve to feel sorry for myself.”

Rasdall is a model prisoner, helping other inmates earn their GEDs. She says she has stopped taking her anti-depressant medications, which has allowed her to fully reflect and grieve for her friend. Rasdall says she will continue her mission to warn others not to drink and drive.

“Laura and I were 18 years old,” Rasdall said from prison. “We thought we were invincible and nothing could ever happen to us, and we made those choices, we took those risks, we paid the consequences. And Laura paid the ultimate consequence. And I am going to wake up every day for the rest of my life knowing I killed my best friend. I would take it all back if I could. Everything.”

Source: ABC News 20/20, Alan B. Goldberg, Drunken Driving Crash Shattered Teen’s Life, June 2, 2009

Charges in boating death of 19-year-old woman implicate son of powerful SC family

A man with ties to one of Hampton County’s most prominent legal families was indicted Thursday in connection with the boating collision that led to the death of 19-year-old Mallory Beach in Beaufort County.

Paul Murdaugh, who was 19 at the time of the crash, was charged with one count of boating under the influence causing death and two counts of boating under the influence causing great bodily injury, the S.C. Attorney General’s Office confirmed.

Jim Griffin of Columbia, an attorney for Murdaugh, said he had not seen the charging documents and declined to comment Thursday.

Murdaugh faces a maximum of 25 years for the death charge and a maximum 15 years for each charge of causing great bodily injury. This was the only indictment to date.

The episode has attracted attention far outside the southernmost section of the South Carolina coast. The case is notable both for the fact that investigators did not test the blood alcohol levels of the occupants of the boat and for the incident’s links to the influential Murdaugh family.

The indictments stem from the early morning hours of Feb. 24 when a boat collided with the Archer’s Creek Bridge, which connects the Parris Island Marine training facility to the rest of Beaufort County. All six occupants of the boat were ejected, but Beach didn’t resurface.

Her body was found seven days later near the Broad River boat landing, the Island Packet reported, which is about 5½ miles from the site of the crash.

Investigators did not test the blood alcohol levels of the occupants of the boat in part because they did not know for sure at the time who the driver was, said Robert McCullough, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. However, a police report described the surviving passengers as grossly intoxicated — a detail that has led to widespread criticism of DNR’s handling of the investigation. The agency investigated 15 deaths from boating crashes last year, McCullough said.

The man charged is a member of a Hampton County family with deep roots in the area. It is because of the family’s connections to the justice system that current 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone declined to take the case, handing it off instead to the Attorney General’s Office.

Randolph Murdaugh was the first in the family to serve as solicitor for the circuit, which includes Beaufort County. Randolph died in 1940, but his son and grandson both held the elected position subsequently, leading to an almost uninterrupted 87-year stretch in which a Murdaugh led the state’s prosecutions for five counties in the Lowcountry.

That run ended in 2005, but Randolph III is still a consultant to the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, according to his biography on the Murdaugh family law practice’s website. Alex, one of his sons, also works as a part-time prosecutor in the office. Alex is also the father of the man indicted Thursday.

In the aftermath of the accident, Randolph III and Alex Murdaugh showed up at the hospital where Paul was held and encouraged him not to speak with investigators, McCullough said.

Several of the Murdaugh clan are also partners in a private practice headquartered in Hampton, which was founded by Randolph Murdaugh and has now grown to 17 attorneys across three offices. The firm routinely handles wrongful death cases.

But now the Murdaughs are on the other side of a civil case — defendants in a suit brought by Beach’s mother, Renee S. Beach. The suit claims that multiple family members — Randolph III, Alex and Alex Murdaugh Jr. — are implicated because they facilitated drinking before the boat crash. All six occupants of the boat were underage, and the suit alleges they had been drinking on a private island owned by a Murdaugh family trust before the crash.

The suit does not name Paul Murdaugh. No answers to the complaint have yet been filed.

Thursday marked 46 days since the collision. But it also marked another bittersweet anniversary: what would have been Mallory Beach’s 20th birthday.

Mark Tinsley, an attorney for the Beach family, said Philip Beach took the day off to visit his daughter’s grave.

“I never imagined that I wouldn’t be able to celebrate your 20th birthday with you,” Renee Beach wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday morning. “Happy Birthday in Heaven Mallory Madison Beach. I miss you so so much!”

10-year-old Miami boy dies after suspected skin contact with fentanyl

CNN — A 10-year-old Miami boy died last month after suspected skin contact with a deadly mixture of opioid drugs, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Tuesday.

A preliminary toxicology report suggests that fifth-grader Alton Banks died June 23 from an overdose of fentanyl mixed with heroin, Fernandez Rundle said, though she did not identify him by name at that time. On Thursday, City of Miami Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes named the boy at a news conference.

A witness reported seeing Alton Banks between the Gibson Park pool and his home on Northwest 13th Court between 5 and 6 p.m. June 23, Llanez said. He asked for help in gathering information about the child’s death and requested that anyone who saw the boy bring their information to the police.

Just 2 to 3 milligrams of fentanyl – equivalent to five to seven grains of table salt – is enough to cause respiratory depression, arrest and possible death, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. It remains unknown how the drug got into Alton’s system.

“We don’t know where he got it. We don’t believe, at this point, it was in his home,” Fernandez Rundle said. “Maybe he touched something.”

The timeline of events has become clearer as the investigation has proceeded. After visiting a pool in the city’s Overtown section, Alton returned home and then began vomiting. “The child was dead by the time EMS arrived,” Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney, wrote in an email.

Days later, the child’s mother, Shantell Banks, posted information about her son’s funeral on her Facebook page.

The boy’s family is distraught, Llanes said Thursday.

Craig W. Lindsley, a professor of pharmacology and chemistry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said that a lethal dose for an average-size 10-year-old would be “really, really small.”

“You’re probably looking at 1 to 1.5 milligrams,” he said, “a little bit smaller than the head of a pin.”

Exposed to that tiny amount, a 10-year-old could suffer labored breathing, gurgling and eventually death. “It’s very rapid,” Lindsley said. “Depending on the dose, it could be a matter of minutes to maybe an hour or two at the longest.”

Fentanyl is “100 times more potent than heroin,” he said, so it doesn’t take a lot to deliver lethal results.

Darren J. Caprara, director of operations for the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department, said no further details can be revealed because “the case is still under investigation by both law enforcement and our Medical Examiner team.”

“We understand that this is a high-profile case that could possibly have public safety implications so we are working diligently to determine a cause and manner of death as accurately and quickly as we can,” Caprara wrote in an email.

“I believe this may be the youngest victim of this scourge in our community,” Fernandez Rundle said, referring to the opioid addiction crisis plaguing the country. She herself is a parent worried about what she called a “nightmare.”

The final toxicology report can take as long as six to seven weeks, according to Griffith, who said Fernandez Rundle made an “unusual” early announcement “because of the danger.” She wanted to “fully communicate to the public … just how dangerous this fentanyl/carfentanyl problem can be and how far the potential range of possible victims can be,” Griffith said.

Thursday’s news conference included comments from city Deputy Fire Chief Craig Radelman, who noted that fentanyl can enter the body through “three different ways: either ingestion, injection or inhalation.” It can also be absorbed.

The chief recommended that anyone who suspects that they may have touched something containing fentanyl should wash their hands. Cleaning with alcohol should be avoided, as it opens pores and could expedite absorption, he said.

Fentanyl and carfentanyl are synthetic opioids that have been linked to overdoses across the nation in recent years.

Fernandez Rundle emphasized the need for parents to know that “their children are at risk in the community.” She explained that fentanyl is a “synthetic drug that comes from China” and can be made in the United States. Easy to produce and cheap, it can be added to a drug dealer’s supply of heroin to stretch the profits.

“Every two hours in the state of southern Florida, an overdose of heroin and fentanyl occurs,” Fernandez Rundle said. “Last year in Dade County alone, there were 220 deaths that occurred right here in our community. I believe that’s more than traffic accidents and homicides.

“Within seconds, your life is taken from you with this powerful scourge that is happening in our streets,” she said.

She explained how Florida changed its laws last year to add carfentanyl and fentanyl to the list of illegal substances. Additionally, she said, the state strengthened laws to prosecute those who sell any mixture of drugs – such as heroin and carfentanyl (an elephant tranquilizer), heroin and fentanyl, or heroin and methamphetamines – that leads to a death.

“We have a new law now that says they can be prosecuted for murder,” Fernandez Rundle said.

Data released by the DEA in May indicate that from 2015 to 2016, more than twice as many drugs seized by law enforcement agencies and submitted to labs have tested positive for fentanyl. According to the DEA’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System, drugs testing positive for fentanyl grew from 15,209 in 2015 to 31,700 in 2016.

In addition to warning parents, Fernandez Rundle said she hoped to gain information for the case, as members of the public might know whether someone was using or dealing opioids in the Overton area where Alton died.

Steven Westervelt, project manager for Di Pompeo Construction, which built the school and the park where Alton is believed to have come into contact with the drugs, said his crew found a dozen syringes at the site every day over the past year. He had them wear gloves and other gear to keep them safe from the substances.

“It’s a very, very hard thing to control in our neighborhood today,” he said.

“The scourge of opioids has struck every community in this country,” Fernandez Rundle said.

Child victims of the chemical cosh: Boy who killed himself after taking Ritalin

Captured in a family video, Harry Hucknall gives a cheeky grin before whizzing off down the street on his new bike. His father, Darren, will never forget the moment — when Harry was seven — and often watches the scene again and again.

It is a precious memory of Harry who, one Sunday evening in September last year, kissed his mother Jane and older brother, David, goodnight before going upstairs to his bedroom and locking the door. He then hanged himself with a belt from his bunk bed.

He was ten years old.

His father blames Harry’s death on two ‘mind-altering’ drugs that his son had been prescribed by a psychiatrist to cure his boisterous behaviour and low spirits.

An inquest was told in April that the boy had more drugs in his body than the normal level for adults suffering from the same problems.

Now, a distraught Mr Hucknall is to make a formal complaint to the NHS for prescribing his son Ritalin, a cocaine-like stimulant which, paradoxically, is said to calm down a child, and Prozac, a powerful antidepressant.

‘When I was growing up there were lots of kids like Harry — a bit over-active, a bit naughty, who didn’t always do as they were told. Now they are branded with a complaint called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,’ says the computer engineer at his semi-detached house on the outskirts of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

‘What is it? What has changed? Is there some weird disease in the air? Harry was just a normal little boy. But because we live in 2011 he, and many other kids, are on tablets.

‘It seems nearly every child has suddenly developed this ADHD. What a load of nonsense. It’s an easy get-out for parents and schools who can’t control children.’

Mr Hucknall is obviously grieving for Harry, and his words are spoken with anger. But they are close to the truth. Earlier this year, this paper revealed that 661,000 prescriptions are dished out annually in Britain to treat childhood ADHD — double the figure of five years ago.

These medicines are being given to very young children — one aged just 15 months, according to our investigations — despite official guidelines from the manufacturer and the fact that the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) prohibits their use for those under six.

Last week, educational psychologist David Traxson told me he suspects that in the West Midlands at least 100 three, four and five-year-olds are on Ritalin or similar drugs. If this is replicated around the country — as is likely — the number will run into thousands.

‘These young children are taking powerful, potentially addictive drugs and no one knows what will happen to their brains in the future,’ he warned.

The Association of Educational Psychologists last week demanded a national review into the use of Ritalin and similar drugs on children.

General Secretary Kate Fallon said: ‘The danger is that we rely on this “quick fix” for children with conditions such as ADHD, which frequently means a prescription for Ritalin.

‘No one’s certain what it will do to children’s brains’

‘We have significant concerns that the neurological impact of these drugs on the developing brains of children has not been fully researched. The potential damage they could cause needs further investigation.’

The psychologists’ call was backed by the National Union of Teachers, whose members have to cope with the huge rise in pupils being dosed with ADHD drugs — which act on the central nervous system to change a child’s behaviour.

In some state primary classrooms, one in ten pupils is on Ritalin pills, which have to be handed out by teachers at lunch or break times. In one junior school of 389 children in the South-East, no fewer than 80 pupils — more than 20 per cent — are on the medication.

It is a phenomenon across Britain, affecting families in every income bracket. The area with the highest proportion of children receiving the drug is the Wirral, a wealthy part of Cheshire which is home to millionaire footballers and business executives.

Meanwhile, sceptics question the very existence of ADHD as an illness. There is no recognised test for it. A diagnosis is made by a psychiatrist or paediatrician merely by watching a child’s behaviour.

‘Enough is enough’: Home Secretary Theresa May has warned of the dangers of the ADHD drugs

Some of the doubters argue the condition is really a politically correct creation, conjured up by the medical world for a child who finds it difficult to sit still or concentrate thanks to a combination of a fast-food diet, late nights and lack of exercise.

It’s easier for the medical world and its political masters, of course, to diagnose a syndrome rather than deal with the real causes.

Another worrying factor is that the parents of children receiving drugs for ADHD immediately become eligible for an array of generous state benefits, including a carer’s allowance and child-disability allowance, which can total thousands a year.

For instance, one family in the West Midlands has two children receiving medication for ADHD. They get £600 a month in disability allowances for each of the two children who have been diagnosed with the ailment.

A third child is being examined by psychologists to see if he is also a sufferer. If he is diagnosed, the family’s annual haul from the state will be £21,600 tax free.

No wonder thousands of families happily agree with child psychiatrists when they are told their son or daughter needs medicine to ‘cure’ their hyperactive behaviour.

Gwynedd Lloyd, an education researcher at Edinburgh University, has explained her doubts. ‘You can’t do a blood test to see if a child has ADHD. It is diagnosed by ticking a behaviour checklist — getting out of your seat and running about is an example. Half the kids in a school would qualify under these sorts of criteria.’

And, it appears, a lot of them do. In the four years to 2010, there was a 65 per cent increase in NHS spending on drugs to treat childhood ADHD, with a cost to the taxpayer of £31million annually. This does not take into account thousands of prescriptions paid for by parents who take their children to private doctors.

In America (where the term ADHD was first created 50 years ago), one in five children is diagnosed as having a hyperactivity disorder and is on Ritalin or a similar drug.

It is predicted that unless the craze for drugging children is not stopped in the UK, one in seven pupils will soon be diagnosed with the condition in many parts of the country, as is already the case in places such as the Wirral.

‘Doubters say it’s an illness conjured up by medics’

Meanwhile, the side-effects of the ADHD treatments are legion. Ritalin is a Class B drug, which is banned for recreational use. It was invented in the Fifties in the U.S. to combat the effects of illegal drug overdoses.

Alarmingly, it can stunt growth (doctors are asked to regularly monitor a young patient’s height and weight), while making children prone to heart problems, depression and insomnia.

At least 11 deaths of children while taking Ritalin have been reported to the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products’ Regulatory Agency since the drug became available 20 years ago. The official causes of nine of the deaths included heart conditions, respiratory problems and brain diseases. Significantly, two of the children ended their own lives just like Harry Hucknall.

Home Secretary Theresa May has said that enough is enough. As the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons before the last election, she warned of the dangers of the ADHD drugs. ‘They are powerful prescription drugs and we don’t know what their long-term effects on a child will be.’

She related to Parliament the story of a six-year-old on Ritalin. ‘He experienced low moods and marked depression and tried to throw himself out of a window within two months of starting treatment. He only recovered once the drug had been withdrawn.’

Sadly, Harry Hucknall never had the chance to stop taking Ritalin, or the antidepressant Prozac. Now his father is asking difficult questions about why his son died. On the fateful weekend last September, Harry was staying at the home in Dalton-in-Furness of his mother, Jane White, 33, his brother David, and his two step-siblings.

In America (where the term ADHD was first created 50 years ago), one in five children is diagnosed as having a hyperactivity disorder and is on Ritalin or a similar drug

He would spend every other weekend and one day during the week with his father, who parted amicably from Jane when Harry was three.

Early last year, child psychiatrist Mr Sumitra Srivastava had prescribed Harry with Prozac for depression, and Ritalin for hyperactivity. He was having difficulty concentrating at school, was being bullied by classmates, and had told his parents he was feeling unhappy.

At an inquest in April, the coroner Ian Smith declared that Mr Srivastava had acted appropriately, but warned that doctors should be extremely careful what they prescribed to ten-year-old boys.

The coroner ruled out a deliberate suicide, but said that the influence of Ritalin and Prozac could not be excluded as a factor in Harry’s death. ‘What a child with ADHD is prescribed by his doctor is mind-altering drugs of a powerful nature,’ he added.

But Harry’s father believes drugs had a huge part to play in the tragedy. ‘Harry was put on Prozac first, and without my knowledge,’ he told me. ‘I only found out about it when he came to stay for the weekend and his mother told me what dose to give him: one in the morning and one at night. “Are you crazy?” I asked her. “That’s an antidepressant.”

‘I can go to work every day and pay for my child’s keep, but it seems I have little say when it comes to things like the authorities deciding to give my son drugs.’ At first, Mr Hucknall refused to give Harry the pills. But Harry’s mother said that if he didn’t dose his son, the child would not be allowed to visit him. She said the doctors had told her Prozac would stop Harry being depressed.

‘I reluctantly agreed. I wanted to see Harry,’ remembers 37-year-old Mr Hucknall. ‘Later, I went with Harry’s mother to see the psychiatrist. I insisted on going along to tell him that I did not want Harry on any drugs whatsoever.

‘While I was there, he said Harry was going to be put on Ritalin as well. I said I did not want him on more drugs. I didn’t want him on any at all.

‘I had never heard of Ritalin. I was told it was to help his concentration. I was never told a side-effect of Ritalin is depression. But the doctor said that if Harry took the Ritalin he would be off everything and drug free within a month.’

Mr Hucknall believed him, although this scenario was very unlikely. Most children remain on ADHD drugs for years. ‘In the end I agreed, because I thought I was doing the right thing. The next thing I know, a month or two later, there was a knock on my door and two police officers were telling me my son had hanged himself,’ he says.

‘He was just a kid. There was nothing wrong with him. He may have had some problems, but they were overstated.

‘A lot of things that Harry’s mum complained about in terms of his behaviour, he did not do here. How can you have ADHD in one place and not in another?

‘I think Harry might have been playing up a bit by attention- seeking because there were three other children in the family.

‘I admit there were a couple of times I forgot to give him his tablets. To me, he seemed quiet and subdued when he was on them.

‘I would have happily thrown them in the bin. Harry just took them, of course. He was a kid and he did as he was told.’

An emotional Mr Hucknall continues: ‘I think ADHD is a disease invented by drug companies. Nobody ever died of ADHD and it didn’t existed once upon a time. It’s too easy to hand out tablets. They are being over-prescribed to children.

‘A perfectly normal kid isn’t allowed to grow up without interference these days. I’m angry about what has happened because I have lost my son.

‘At the school meetings about Harry, his teachers said he was quiet. My son had just recently moved house and been put into a new school, where he didn’t know anybody. What did they expect?

‘Another teacher said Harry didn’t laugh at his jokes. I asked Harry about that. He told me they weren’t very funny.’

Mr Hucknall believes his son was ‘inappropriately medicated’ and has asked Independent Complaints’ Advocacy Service (ICAS) — which supports those wishing to complain about the NHS — to take on the case.

At the inquest, Mr Hucknall also took the chance to challenge Mr Srivastava again about why he had put Harry on drugs. ‘This doctor said at the inquest my son had a chemical inbalance in his brain. I asked him: “How do you know? Did you take chemicals from his brain?”

‘He told me it was a theory. So based on a theory — and seeing my son five times at the most — he decided to put him on this drug, Ritalin, which is as powerful as cocaine.

‘Harry ended up taking two drugs that work against each other — the Prozac that fights depression and the Ritalin that can cause it. How can that be right?’

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Breaking News:

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POT CANDY: Colorado man gets 30 years in prison for killing wife while high on marijuana edibles!

CANNABIS PSYCHOSIS: Colorado teen develops schizophrenia after using marijuana!

RITALIN SUICIDE: British teenager who had his prescription of Ritalin increased hangs himself!

AFFLUENZA DEFENSE: Texas teen receives probation after killing 4 in DWI crash!

MARIJUANA HOMICIDE: Washington teen admits to smoking marijuana before killing 3 in crash!

ALCOHOL HAZING: Minnesota teen suffers massive brain damage in college hazing incident!

BEST FRIEND KILLED: Florida teen kills her best friend in drunk driving tragedy!

DEADLY BOAT CRASH: South Carolina teen kills classmate in late night DUI boating accident!

DEADLY TOUCH: Florida boy dies after having his skin come in contact with fentanyl!

PRESCRIBING DEATH: Cumbria boy kills himself after being prescribed Prozac and Ritalin!

AUTOPSY: Tennessee mother overdoses and leaves her baby to die of starvation and dehydration!

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