FLOWER'S POWER DEADLY

The trumpet is sounding in Kamloops and it may be a death knell.

More than a dozen teenagers have been in the Royal Inland Hospital
emergency ward in the past two weeks. All of them were suffering the
effects of taking the latest drug craze in the city.

It goes by many names - moonflower, angel's trumpet, devil's weed or
Jimsonweed. For Richard Bailey, Joshua Dyson and Eric Lamarche, it's an
experience they won't be repeating.

"We tried it for the first time (Sunday) night," Bailey says. "We all ended
up in the hospital."

They may have been lucky. By Monday, they were OK and doing their best to
spread the word about how bad the effects are. They're trying to counter
the word they heard earlier.

"Kids tell other kids," Dyson says. "It's the cool thing to do right now.
It's a really harsh hallucinogen, though."

Dr. Tom Dorran, RIH chief of emergency medicine, says it's becoming a
fairly common occurrence.

"I did two evening shifts last week and saw three cases. They were quite
floridly psychotic, picking at the air. It's pretty noticeable."

The three young men agree, saying it's a different reality.

"Richard and I thought we were smoking," Dyson says. "I thought I dropped
my cigarette, so I was looking for it on the floor.

Adds Bailey: "This was while we were in the emergency ward."

The plant is attractive and is grown by a number of local gardeners. This
makes it fairly easy for teens to get at it.

"You just sneak in and grab a couple of flowers," says Dyson.

Meanwhile, the three young men are telling their friends to treat the plant
differently than they did Sunday.

"If you see it," Lamarche says, "get rid of it."