YOUTHS EXPOSE FLOWER'S POWER

Three young men who sought a new adventure by eating a poisonous flower may
not have demonstrated a lot of smarts in their hunt for fun, but they did
display courage after the fact.

The three became seriously ill after consuming a flower called angel's
trumpet. They ended up at Royal Inland Hospital, sick and demonstrating
psychotic behaviour. The poison from the inside of the flower's stem causes
severe hallucinations, rapid heart beat and elevated body temperatures,
among other symptoms.

When the youths recovered, they set aside their pride, trooped down to The
Daily News and told their story to warn other young people who might also
not understand the ramifications of eating the flower. The mother of one of
the young men was equally candid in discussing her son's actions and her
fear of what had occurred.

A valuable message was provided by the youths who were even gutsy enough to
allow their photographs to be taken - a photo and story that ran across
Canada in the national media. Their story gave unsuspecting parents an
opportunity to become familiar with this poisonous flower and to warn their
own children about the potential for serious illness and even death. It
also provided gardeners, including the City of Kamloops, a reason to snip
off the blooms.

Angel's trumpet, or datura innoxia, is nothing to fool around with. All
parts of the beautiful plant are poisonous. While it does cause
hallucinations, they are nothing most people would want to experience. In
fact, drug counsellor Patrick McDonald said some people, after consuming
the flower, have been so badly hit that it served as a turning point in
their substance abuse. "After that, they decided to take a serious look
what they were putting into their bodies."

That's good advice for everyone. Some people, particularly teenagers, treat
mind-altering substances as a lark. They don't do the research on what can
happen to them when they use their bodies for experiments.

The young men who found out the hard way with the moonflowers and lived to
tell their story have done their peers a huge favour. Hopefully, those
peers will heed the warning.