- Drugs
Have you heard of spice? That’s how I usually begin this conversation. The answer 99% of the time is, “No.” It is my mission in life to educate as many people as I can about the dangers of spice so that people can answer yes to that question.
Spice is a type of synthetic marijuana. It is addictive and deadly. I know about spice because my son, Adam, took his own life on June 20th, 2012. He had served in the Navy for eight years and was planning on reenlisting. He was hoping to become an officer and looking at buying a new car.
So, why did he take his own life? Even right now as I write this story, I shake my head because I still can’t believe he is gone. I was not in my hometown when I got the news. I was 600 miles away from home, near Austin, TX. I was going to visit my other son, Matthew. About an hour away from our destination, I got a call from the Navy. They had an important message to give me. They asked which hotel I was staying at and what time would I arrive.
I knew that whatever it was they had to tell me, it wasn’t going to be good. I kept hoping they would say that Adam got hurt and was in the hospital. I didn’t want to think of the absolute worst. Unfortunately, the absolute worst was the message. Adam was dead. The Navy officer couldn’t tell me how he had died because it was still being investigated. I had to wait another five hours to learn how.
The coroner said that Adam went back on base, walked to the end of a soccer field and killed himself. I could not understand what she was telling me because just three weeks before, Adam was talking with me about all his plans, not about death! She said they found spice on his body and in his house.
I asked her, “What is spice and could it have contributed to what he did?” She said spice is a type of legal synthetic marijuana and it causes people to do things they normally wouldn’t do. I never worried about drug abuse with Adam because the Navy always tests the sailors for drugs. Unfortunately, the drug tests that are on the market don’t test for spice. The chemicals and quantities in spice are always changing, so testing for it is like trying to shoot a moving target.
Since then, I’ve learned all I can about spice and have made it my new mission in life to warn as many people as I can about the dangers of spice. I refuse to sit by and let other kids get hurt by this poison. I give presentations to kids, parents, drug rehab centers, Border Patrol officers, Navy and Army personnel and anyone else who will listen.
I am doing this because I want to honor my son’s memory and for the love that I will always carry for him in my heart.