“It will kill you,” Family sues smoke shop after son’s death

In 2012 a young man by the name of Dylan Ordaz was hit by a drunk driver in Oklahoma. Luckily Dylan survived the accident, but he spent months in the hospital recovering from broken bones and road rash. Even after leaving the hospital, he never walked the same and his prescription pills did little to help ease his constant pain. Dylan was interested in using medical marijuana, but the risk of using marijuana while it remains illegal in Oklahoma turned him to a legal alternative with easy access, synthetic marijuana. He told his mother that he needed something that could relieve his pain because he cannot survive with it. But his mother discovered the legal synthetic marijuana eventually took his life when she found him dead in his home at theage of 24. Dylan's family is suing the owners of the smoke shop where he purchased the synthetic drug after the autopsy confirmed it caused his death. Dylan chose to avoid an illegal medicine widely used for pain around the country, and instead use a legal alternative, causing his death. No deaths from marijuana have ever been recorded, while the legal synthetic alternative continues to attract unsuspecting victims.

"He had numerous prescriptions that he wouldn't even feel, because they really didn't help, and he didn't want to get hooked on those," said his mom, Tricia Diaz. "He was in a lot of pain, and he never walked the same, because he was in so much pain in the way he carried himself."

An autopsy showed synthetic marijuana as the cause of death.

"I'm just thankful we do have the proof, so that everyone will believe that this is dangerous, and this is toxic, and they won't continue to use it," Tricia said. "That's why I want to warn everyone now. If there are any of his peers or even older people, there may be adults that are doing this, it will kill you."