February 3, 2003
VIRTUAL KITTY:
He takes fatal OD as Internet pals watch (HELEN KENNEDY, February 1st, 2003, DAILY NEWS)"I told u I was hardcore."Those were the last coherent words Brandon Vedas, 21, typed into the computer in his Phoenix bedroom as he showed off for Internet pals watching on a Web cam by swallowing more and more prescription drugs. [...]
On the night of Jan. 12, Vedas urged chat pals to log onto his Web site and watch him go through his stash. "Bottoms up, fellas!" he crowed.
"Don't OD on us, Ripper," said one of the onlookers watching Vedas swallow pill after pill.
"That's not much," said a teenager from rural Oklahoma who calls himself Smoke2K. "Eat more. I wanna see if you survive or if you just black out."
In the macho atmosphere of the druggie chat room, Vedas seemed to have something to prove. "This is usual weekend behavior. U all said I was lying," he said.
He said it was safe and noted, "My mom is in the next room doing crozzwordz."
As he took more and more, Vedas' typing became disjointed. His chat pals cheered him on.
"Ripper - you should try to pass out in front of the cam," suggested one gleeful voyeur.
Vedas even tried to protect himself against disaster.
"In fase anything goe wrong," he said, typing his cell phone number. "Call if I look dead."
Soon, he did.
Soon, he was.
The technology progresses, but Man doesn't. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 3, 2003 7:42 PM
Argument for darwinism right there.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at February 4, 2003 2:50 AMAgreed. This is a perfect example of applied evolution--the non-survival of the least fit.
JG
Is some one going to nominate him for the Darwin award?
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at February 4, 2003 10:37 AMIdiots like this hurt those of us who need some of these drugs for real medical issues. They have the dual effect of raising the FDA's antenna and making doctors skittish about prescribing.
Just look what's happened with opiates over the last 20 years. Abuse of drugs like Vicodin and Oxycodone have gotten doctors to the point where they fear giving them to responsible patients who suffer from real, debilitating pain.
A solution, of course, would be get rid of restrictions on drugs and make them all available on the free market. Let the idiots knock themselves out (and knock themselves off, as the case may be) and let the rest of us treat ourselves as we need to.
That's how it would work in a society that is actually free, not one that's merely presumptuous enough to describe itself as such, like America.
Y'all beat me to the snide Darwinism remark.
Poor guy. Poor, stupid, benighted, idiotic guy.
Most of those pain-killer prescriptions are psychological anyway, for folks with low pain thresholds who complain a lot.
Posted by: oj at February 4, 2003 12:39 PMMost of those pain-killer prescriptions are psychological anyway, for folks with low pain thresholds who complain a lot.
Wow. I'm not sure if you're just trying to provocative, or what. But this officially qualifies as the Silliest Thing I've Read Online All Day.
If you're serious, though, please explain on what evidence you base your assertion.