Sunday, August 31, 2008

This is your brain on drugs

Similar to a chicken with its head cut off...

By The Associated Press

MODESTO, Calif. - Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.

The Denny's closed for the night.

8 comments:

Smiley said...

so did he or did he not inject him self with air.

Michele said...

sad story. sad. to many people waste their lives on drugs. to many. everywhere i go i see drug addicts on the street, hanging out at super markets begging for money for their next fix. sometimes they hang out near the doors of the supermarket . it truly is intimidating to those of us who want to enter without being accosted by a drug addict. many good hearted people are addicted to drugs, and they end up dying because of their habit. they could've been alive today, but they aren't. and that is heart breaking. it really is.

Tom in Vegas said...

I'm surprised his arm didn't end up in the menu. Bad joke:0)

Hmm...I think this might better be called "This is your brain on stupid."

paramedicgirl said...

smiley, he probably used a 3 cc syringe to inject himself with cocaine. That means there was probably 2 cc's of his diluted drug mix in the syringe. The remaining 1 cc would hardly be enough of an air bubble to cause his heart even a hiccup. (It takes at least 3 cc of air to cause an embolism).

At any rate, he should be more concerned about the drug killing him than the air!

owenswain said...

Our Adversary is merciless. May our Lord have mercy on this soul.

Terry Nelson said...

You must see a lot of this. It really is not a funny story at all - "This is your brain on drugs" - your title says it all.

paramedicgirl said...

Terry, yes I do see some pretty bizarre things. I can't talk about them, due to patient confidentiality of course, but this story pretty much sums up the crazies I deal with.

Anita Moore said...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: that's why they call it "dope."