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Synthetic MJ led to some strange & gruesome murders in the DC area including a guy getting knifed repeatedly on a metro platform not so long ago. Just legalize the real stuff already!

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Synthetic MJ led to some strange & gruesome murders in the DC area including a guy getting knifed repeatedly on a metro platform not so long ago. Just legalize the real stuff already!

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This!

The number one reason that people abuse this crap is that it is very hard to detect in a drug test. The test is expensive, so most probation and parole offices do not test for it. I am confident that schools, athletic teams, and employers probably do not either. So, in effect, the only reason this stuff even exists is because it can be abused without repercussions...at least legal ones.

Thomas was clearly unstable when not on K-2 by the sound of this article. He needed professional psychiatric care. I'm sure it didn't help, but as a developed nation we do not handle mental health very well here at all and unfortunately it results in terrible tragedies like this.

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I spent a year working in juvenile drug court. Several kids had psychotic breaks from spice use.

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The people that make and sell K2 and the like should all be facing the death penitly. They don't give a second thought to what chemical they add in their effort to keep it legal. It's just a cocktail of random *****

it tough controlling a mentally ill person once they reach the age of 18. They are an adult

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May thomas rot in hell he knows what he did

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Get a freakin' clue, man. Come on, staff, get this crap out of here.

Horribly sad story.

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it tough controlling a mentally ill person once they reach the age of 18. They are an adult

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Sort of. When I lived in Chapel Hill, a guy named Wendell Williamson murdered 2 people on the main drag during a schizophrenic or related outburst. His family sued the doctor and won 7 figures+, apparently because it was his fault that an insane adult quit taking his meds.

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Wasn't the florida face eater on K2? My gf says her cousin was really brain fried when on it

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Bath salts iirc.

This whole story breaks my heart.

Heartbreaking story.

Its obvious from the responses on this thread that most people here don't have much experience with mental illness and would probably respond in a similar way if TJ was their kid (ie not getting him help). It's clear from the story that his problem was much bigger than drug use. He was diagnosed by a trained professional as schizophrenic and a separate doctor ruled he wasn't competent to stand trial. His issues are more than just some bad drugs or bad parenting.

The person above who said it's hard to get someone help once they reach 18 is exactly right. If the person doesn't think they need help you can't force it on them. Most of the time with part of the illness is thinking you can overcome it without help. The parents should have got him help before he turned 18, but 95% of parents would have acted the same way. It's easy to notice when it's not your kid.

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Its obvious from the responses on this thread that most people here don't have much experience with mental illness and would probably respond in a similar way if TJ was their kid (ie not getting him help). It's clear from the story that his problem was much bigger than drug use. He was diagnosed by a trained professional as schizophrenic and a separate doctor ruled he wasn't competent to stand trial. His issues are more than just some bad drugs or bad parenting.

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This over and over again. His issue likely had very little to do with drugs. Schizophrenia often doesn't manifest until around college aged and is more common in men than woman. Some theories say it can be triggered by high stress situations and sometimes drugs. Caveat - I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist

T&P for all involved in this story and all families struggling with this illness.

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Its obvious from the responses on this thread that most people here don't have much experience with mental illness and would probably respond in a similar way if TJ was their kid (ie not getting him help). It's clear from the story that his problem was much bigger than drug use. He was diagnosed by a trained professional as schizophrenic and a separate doctor ruled he wasn't competent to stand trial. His issues are more than just some bad drugs or bad parenting.

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This over and over again. His issue likely had very little to do with drugs. Schizophrenia often doesn't manifest until around college aged and is more common in men than woman. Some theories say it can be triggered by high stress situations and sometimes drugs. Caveat - I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist

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Wasn't the florida face eater on K2? My gf says her cousin was really brain fried when on it

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Bath salts iirc.

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Yep, that one was bath salts. There's another more recent story of a kid just losing it, walking out on dinner with his parents, meandering down a neighborhood street until he saw a couple sitting in their open garage enjoying the evening, and he walked up and simply proceeded to kill them with objects he found in the garage. Took a handful of cops to take him down. Still waiting on full toxicology results I believe.

That being said, gotta agree with the couple of posters that said Thomas Johnson seems more like a case of untreated mental illness, that might have been exacerbated by drugs. I personally tend to think the story of rape was one of his delusions.

Unfortunately if you read the comments by readers after that story you see some of the same issues that kept Johnson from getting proper help....people blaming drugs, or that he was raped/hazed and that pushed him over the edge, and one moron even said that he was clearly possessed by evil spirits (like his mom claimed) because marijuana is a drug and drugs are made to weaken the brain to make demonic attacks easier. I. ***** You. Not.

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Its obvious from the responses on this thread that most people here don't have much experience with mental illness and would probably respond in a similar way if TJ was their kid (ie not getting him help). It's clear from the story that his problem was much bigger than drug use. He was diagnosed by a trained professional as schizophrenic and a separate doctor ruled he wasn't competent to stand trial. His issues are more than just some bad drugs or bad parenting.

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This over and over again. His issue likely had very little to do with drugs. Schizophrenia often doesn't manifest until around college aged and is more common in men than woman. Some theories say it can be triggered by high stress situations and sometimes drugs. Caveat - I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist

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There's the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, which is as it sounds, symptoms of schizophrenia are due to elevated dopamine levels or oversensitive dopamine receptors.

For some people the D4 receptor opens like a flower and sucks in significantly more dopamine. They have greater receptiveness.

So, when you use dopamine producing drugs you're gambling with the fact that you may be one of those people who is more receptive to dopamine which may contribute to a psychotic break or even schizophrenia.

Back when this all went down I was told most of the same details... It was scary to hear. One thing I did not see was that he would run up and down the street with a football helmet on after he left school. Clearly he had serious mental health issues and everyone tried to use alternative methods to fix him, and he refused the treatment at green oaks.

Such a sad story for everyone involved.

I get why we try to reason through these things, but there's no reason here. No one to lay the blame on.

Just a terrible terrible story. Nothing is going to make it any better.

Imagine being his father and having that conversation with him in jail that last time.

Damn, that's just awful. I feel like I just got kicked in the gut all day.

The process of confining someone to a mental health facility against their will is difficult. In order for a warrant to be issued, the person must be an immediate danger to himself or others, not merely saying weird stuff or acting funny. Even if someone is walking around saying they are Jesus, they have a right to freedom and a right to refuse medication until such time that they pose a real, immediate threat to their safety or the safety of others. In my experience it is common that a concerned loved one (or citizen) calls the police, and then the police contact the community health people or take the person to a hospital. Police can take someone to a health facility without a warrant if they directly witness behavior that demonstrates an immediate threat.

In either case, within 48 hours they must be examined by an MD and have a hearing determining whether the involuntary confinement is necessary.

As much as people want to throw blame around, unfortunately until TJ started showing signs of violence there is not much anyone else could do for him without his consent.

It's so eerily similar to these domestic terrorists, cops/FBI interview them, have them on watchlists, but they can't detain them just because they COULD be a threat, and it's too late once they've already attacked. There's no win win situation, sometimes I'm for detaining these people indefinitely, but that's hard to say who deserves to be locked up and who doesn't based on simply having the potential to commit violence.

Just an awful story. Lives destroyed. I feel badly for everyone involved.

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I get why we try to reason through these things, but there's no reason here. No one to lay the blame on.

Just a terrible terrible story. Nothing is going to make it any better.

Imagine being his father and having that conversation with him in jail that last time.

Damn, that's just awful. I feel like I just got kicked in the gut all day.

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Thank you for your compassionate words. Mental illness is a horrible nightmare for parents. I have witnessed good parents spend thousands and do everything possible to help their child. Sadly, mental illness doesn't just go away one day to never return again.

I completely forgot that the widow killed herself too. Tragic to read but I just don't understand why someone would find their self worth in someone else on this earth.

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Tragic to read but I just don't understand why someone would find their self worth in someone else on this earth.

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You really can't believe that a woman who's husband was violently murdered would fall deep enough into depression that she wouldn't want to live anymore?

I'm all for being a hard-ass, but I will readily admit that if my wife was suddenly taken out of my life by such a random act of inexplicable violence, that I'd probably struggle a lot myself. I'd like to say that I wouldn't get that depressed, but unless you've been there, who can make that claim?

Really sad nothing was done about his obvious mental health issues.

Watch people closely. I had a cousin who was captain of his HS football team, QB at Northern Iowa, Presidential scholar, and a doctor. Basically the All- American kid. There were warning signs of his mental health issues but none of us thought much of it. He overdosed at age 28.

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Tragic to read but I just don't understand why someone would find their self worth in someone else on this earth.

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You really can't believe that a woman who's husband was violently murdered would fall deep enough into depression that she wouldn't want to live anymore?

I'm all for being a hard-ass, but I will readily admit that if my wife was suddenly taken out of my life by such a random act of inexplicable violence, that I'd probably struggle a lot myself. I'd like to say that I wouldn't get that depressed, but unless you've been there, who can make that claim?

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I don't think it is being a hard-ass to say that no one on earth "completes" me. My wife, my kids, my pastor, my friends - none of them complete me. They are a joy and complement me but I don't find my worth in them. I find great comfort, joy, and happiness, but not worth. Would I be depressed? Absolutely. Would I go into a funk and find ways to numb the pain? Sure.

Dear internet friends,

When we strive to find absolutes, we often end up with simple answers.

Thank you,
Ian Neff

Fair enough.

While I can't speak from experience, I can see how a widow who was going through what she went through, after being on the verge of retirement and living out her life with her husband, decided that it all wasn't worth it anymore.