On behalf of a local public health coalition, I am requesting your assistance to publish a warning to your members and through them to gardeners, and nursery owners throughout Ontario regarding Jimson weed and Angel's trumpet plants. There have been very serious cases of youth ingesting seeds or the flowers of these plants with very serious health effects. As you probably know these are very toxic plants which can be deadly. Youths have used the seeds (chewing or making teas) in our region and other regions of Canada and the US to obtain hallucinatory effects and some have suffered grave consequences including death. The plants are subject to the US Dept. of Agriculture control. I am bringing this issue to our Fed. & Prov. Agriculture depts' attention. In Essex County, we are alerting all horticultural Societies and our local Landscape Ontario regional president.

We would ask you to publish the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (ARF division) Media Alert or your own alert in your next newsletter along with whatever advice you would like to pass along to your members. I will forward the bulleting to you via Fax. I think it important to remind everyone that these plants should not be composted but should probably be bagged, dried and burned. The seeds are very hardy. This weed is apparently a menace to our local farmers who have experienced damage to their combining equipment. I am aware of one farmer who has been trying for 10 years to eradicate the plant from a field.

The Jimson weed has become very popular with gardeners and the bulk of its dissemination at least in this area has been through gardeners sharing seeds. I have been advised however that some nurseries have been selling the plants-probably the Angel's trumpet.

I thank you for your attention to this matter and your support of this initiative and will be pleased to send you more information obtained on the internet by our local health unit.

In order to conduct a follow-up of this initative, we would ask you to advise us if you decide to issue such notice in your newsletter and send us a copy of it along with the number of copies distributed.

Your support is very appreciated and will be acknowledged.

Blanche Bénéteau- RN BA Program Consultant-Conseillère en programmation Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Centre de toxicomanie et de santé mentale Suite #118, 3200 promenade Deziel Drive, Windsor, ON N8W 5K8 Tel: 519-251-0500 Fax/télécop: 519-251-0494