Teen Boy Dies from Synthetic Marijuana

This tragedy reminds parents and teens that the manufactured version has all the risks of the natural version of pot – maybe even more.

To many teens, pot seems harmless. Smoking a little marijuana is almost a right of passage. But drugs are dangerous in any form, as the recent death of a 13-year-old reminds us.

The young teen became ill after smoking synthetic marijuana and would later require a double lung transplant. Unfortunately, those heroic efforts weren’t enough to save him. The boy, Brandon Rice, died in October 2011 at a Pennsylvania hospital, according to his mother, Tonya Rice.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the trouble began last summer when the boy smoked the fake marijuana out of a plastic candy dispenser, suffering chemical burns to both lungs. He was put on a respirator in June and had a double lung transplant in September. Anti-rejection drugs he’s taken since the transplants weakened Brandon’s immune system and made him unable to fight off a recent infection, his mother says.

A ban outlawing such substances took effect in August, signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett just a few days after the tragic incident was first reported. It was too late to save Brandon, but hopefully it will keep other kids from meeting the same tragic fate.

Teen Boy Dies from Synthetic Marijuana

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