![]() They’re not teenagers, they’re almost all men in their 30’s and 40’s. The Fox 9 Investigators made a public records request of the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, and discovered 16 people have died in just the last five years from inhaling products with DFE. Olives said it is possible to have a fatal overdose the first time huffing. On You Tube, there are dozens of videos of people huffing compressed air often hallucinating, staggering and passing out. “I think the best predictor of drug use is what’s in your best friend’s pocket.” “There is a legitimate intoxicating effect from the inhalants we’re talking about.” Olives said. The products contain a warning label and some add a bittering agent to deter huffing, but it doesn’t stop everyone. They contain a chemical known as Difluoroethane, or DFE, used as a refrigerant and propellant. It’s estimated more than 1,500 consumer products can be used to get high.īut the most popular these days are the varieties of compressed air and computer keyboard cleaner. “The classic description is a young person using inhalant - whether keyboard cleaner of something else - that’s caught in the act by mom and dad, and has a sudden rush of adrenaline which causes an arrhythmia and that can be fatal,” Olives told the Fox 9 Investigators. Travis Olives is with HCMC’s Poison Control Center, where they get about 300 calls a year about inhalants. Jason died at 42, cause of death 'acute volatile inhalant toxicity.’ His huffing had caused a heart attack, also known as ‘sudden sniffing death syndrome.’ĭr. “We sat here and I said, ‘if you keep up what you’re doing, you will die and our son will grow up without his dad,’” Townsley said. Receipts show Jason was buying ten cans every day. Jason was driving every day from his townhome in Eden Prairie to the local Menards, where there’s a large display of Ultra Duster in the middle of the store. The red straw was on a can of Ultra Duster. “And unprompted he said, ‘I saw my dad drinking water out of the can with the red straw.’” she said. But Jason couldn’t stop huffing, even in the presence of their son. He was making noises, but not forming any words and he grabbed me by both wrists and he finally started saying ‘don’t leave me,’” Townsley recalled. “When he woke up he couldn’t even utter a word. He got sober, but soon, and in secret, found a new addiction: huffing compressed air. ![]() “It was hard for him to handle life,” she said.Īfter the birth of their son six years ago, Jason began drinking. Their courtship lasted four months, the marriage almost 20 years. Tomoko met Jason Townsley at a small market TV station in Indiana, where he was a control room director. Their story, their love affair, began years ago in television news. “He was very sweet, very generous, very funny. He was a very good parent to our son,” she said. ![]() It’s the story she never imagined she’d be sharing.
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