E-cigarette incident traumatises teen, family

The Sun

3 days ago

PETALING JAYA: A teenager escaped death after inhaling vape laced with a synthetic drug known as 'Magic Mushroom', leading him to jump from the third floor of his school dormitory in a disoriented state.
The incident, which occurred in September 2022, has left lasting trauma for both the 16-year-old boy and his family.
His mother, a civil servant who asked to be known only as Mawar, shared the ordeal in hopes of warning other parents and students about the growing threat of drug-laced vape liquids.
'It was after prep class. He had returned to his dorm when a senior approached and offered him a vape. At first, my son refused.
'But after being pressured, he gave in,' she told theSun.
The boy, then a Form Four student at a vocational college in Pahang, had taken two or three puffs before he began feeling drowsy and decided to lie down.
'This is based on what my son shared with us. He thought all he did was go to bed. But in reality, he was already high.
'Instead of resting, he had left the dorm in a state of confusion and ran all the way to the guard post at the entrance of the school.'
The school security guard managed to stop him from leaving the premises, but the ordeal was far from over.
Still under the influence and disoriented, the teen turned back toward the dormitory. Mawar said what happened next should serve as a warning about the dangers of drug-laced vape products.
'He climbed up to the third floor where his dorm was located and jumped.'
Several dormmates witnessed the scene and later confirmed to Mawar that it was not an accident, her son had deliberately leapt from the building.
In a conversation later with his mother, the teen explained that he remembered everything but at the time, believed it was a dream.
The fall left him with a fractured leg and spinal injuries.
After months of treatment and rehabilitation, he regained full mobility and has since returned to a relatively normal life.
'We were lucky. But what if he had landed differently? What if the guard had not stopped him earlier? He could have lost his life over a vape he did not even want to try,' said Mawar.
She said to this day, her son withdraws whenever the incident is brought up by family members.
In May, the National Poison Centre reported a surge in such cases since 2022, with many users suffering seizures, hallucinations, vomiting and behavioural changes after using laced vape liquids.
Investigators believe dealers are targeting youths by mixing drugs into vape liquids and marketing them falsely as 'natural'.