Synthetic Psychedelic Drug Bought Online Kills Teen – High School Senior Dies After A Painful Seizure

A high school senior has died due to ingestion of a dangerous synthetic psychedelic drug. The teen had sourced the drug from an online vendor.

Alexander J. Snyder, a senior at Chanhassen High School in Minneapolis, died owing to a powerful synthetic psychedelic drug. Rescue officers fished the teenager out of a marsh. He was found alive, lying face-up in a marsh on Sunday by police officers who were following up on a missing persons complaint.

Police officers, who extracted him from the marshy area, noted that he wasn’t wearing his shoes and seemed to be having a seizure. Despite the convulsions, rescue officers managed to bring him out from the three-to-four inches of cattail marsh water at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park. Snyder was rushed to Two Twelve Medical Center in Chaska, and then to Hennepin County Medical Center. However the teen passed away on Tuesday.

Jason Kamerud, Chief Deputy at the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, revealed that investigators strongly believe Snyder died from an accidental overdose of a synthetic psychedelic drug that he snorted with a friend, reported ABC News.

When Alexander Snyder didn’t come home, his father, Jeremy Snyder, called police. The police were able to zero-in on the teenager by tracking his location through his cell phone GPS. When they reached the marshy area, they found Snyder was in company of another teenager. Apparently, they both had jointly decided to experiment with the synthetic psychedelic drug. His friend too had the drug in his system and even showed symptoms similar to those exhibited by Snyder, but the medical team was able to treat him. Snyder however, wasn’t as lucky.

Though investigations are still on going, authorities believe the drug might be dipropyltryptamine. It is a powerful psychedelic drug commonly available on the internet as DTP. Though it is not openly advertised, anyone knowing how to search for drugs online can easily approach a vendor. Investigating officials further added Snyder might have procured it from a Chinese manufacturer.

What’s concerning about the drug, besides its easy availability online, is the fact that the drug might not be strictly illegal, because synthetic drugs are often carefully altered so that they are chemically dissimilar from banned substances. This allows vendors to operate in the “gray area” of online pharmaceuticals, which is a huge thriving business and anyone with a credit card and an internet connection can easily procure strong prescription medicines.

The teen’s father maintains that Snyder was a “wonderful and brilliant person.” Snyder was the youngest of his three children and had never shown any abnormal signs. He added that the teen was loved by his family. Snyder was on track to graduate six months early and had wanted to be an astrophysicist.

Snyder’s father even mentioned that the synthetic psychedelic drug was listed as useful for “antioxidant testing use,” which is how they were able to get it legally imported, reported KTSP. The drug has known medical uses and has been used psycho-therapeutically in humans. Incidentally, the drug is quite similar to another popular synthetic drug called LSD. He said he was quite concerned how easy it was for teenagers to get their hands on synthetic drugs. He has urged parents to try whatever they can to intervene if their child starts to experiment with drugs,

“These things are really, really not safe. If the parents are suspecting [teens are using synthetics] they should probably cut them off all financially.”

The synthetic psychedelic drug Snyder and his friend snorted rapidly increases blood pressure and can cause feelings of euphoria, anxiety, excitement, etc. reported the Daily Mail. Worryingly, the drug isn’t listed as a scheduled substance in the United States, which makes its import rather easy and hassle-free.

[Image Credit |SSPL / Getty Images, Snyder via Facebook]