The jimson weed scare

Here's something you definitely don't see very often: a local news scare story about jimson weed. We already know that some kids will get high on anything, but apparently only in "gardens and fields all over Kansas" does "jimson, or Moon Weed as it is often called, because it produces a flower at night," grow wild and readily enough to become the subject of a scare piece. A certain Dr. Doren Fredrickson of the Sedgwick County Health Department had this to say on the risks:

"The margin between some hallucinogen effects, and death, are fairly small, so you take a few more leaves, and you may push yourself into the death category," Doctor Fredrickson said.

You hear that? The death category. Which is like the Double Jeopardy round, except more permanent. At any rate, local kids definitely seem to know the score about the stuff:

"I just heard stories how they acted all stupid, and crazy, and got pulled over," one girl said.

"I know some people that took them, and they said they just tripped out," another girl said.

Perhaps a sign of the times that,

"Kids just use anything to get messed up I guess," one of the girls speculated.

But what's encouraging is that all the warnings about Jimson Weed, that parents, police and educators have put out there, also appear to have had an effect.

"I heard it was really dangerous, and you could die from it, and that's scary," one of the girls said.

You heard it here first!