WEED POSES RISK

Police Issue Jimson Warning After Teens Hurt

Four Hamilton residents, including two young teens, survived a narrow
brush with a legal but deadly weed that grows wild and in gardens,
police said yesterday. Datura, popularly known as jimson weed, left a
13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl violently hallucinating Sunday,
said Det.-Sgt. Rick Wills of the Hamilton Police vice and drug branch.

After the boy went to Hamilton General Hospital at about 1:15 a.m., he
was transferred to the McMaster University Medical Centre intensive
care unit.

Wills said the boy was so high on the plant's "extremely toxic"
narcotic that McMaster staff did not know who he was until after the
girl went to a police station suffering from similar intoxication nine
hours later.

Police checked her address and found two more people under the
influence of the weed in a Victoria Ave. N. home. One is related to
the boy, but the family tie, ages and sex of the pair in the home were
not disclosed.

Jimson, which has white or purple trumpet-shaped flowers, causes
problems "mostly with local young persons who may try this deadly weed
without the knowledge of its dangers," Wills said.

Also called devil's weed and stinkweed, its narcotic alkaloids can
cause delirium and hallucinations. It can be so toxic that people have
died from smoking it or overdosing on a tea made from the dried
leaves, stems and kidney-shaped seeds.

Seeds found in a spiked pod on the plants are the most dangerous part
of the plant.

Police issued a warning about ingesting the weed and urged anyone
aware of a user to get them medical aid.