Teen's death raises awareness of designer drugs

FREDERICKSBURG - A popular teen's death from ingesting an unregulated hallucinogenic substance has opened eyes of the Hill Country community to the hazards of designer drugs marketed on the Internet.

Since Sam Herrera, 16, died April 20, his family and many friends have grieved as police and prosecutors examined what charges they could file in the case.

The answer so far: none.

The Department of Public Safety is exploring whether the substance blamed for Herrera's death - identified as 25c-NBOMe by the DPS crime lab - can be included in pending legislation aimed at outlawing such synthesized drugs.

Several other deaths around the nation have been blamed on recreational use of psychoactive chemicals derived from phenethylamine, a compound found in plants and animals.

Beside prohibiting specific versions of known drugs, Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said her bill would enable law officers "to keep up with street chemists who alter the chemical compounds to skirt existing drug laws and put them on the streets faster than they can be banned."

Acquaintances say Herrera and another teen who took the chemical had no inkling of the potentially lethal consequences.

"There was no stop sign ... no red flags," John Jeffers, the father of a friend of the teen, told roughly 900 people who gathered Wednesday at the Holy Ghost Lutheran Church to celebrate Herrera's short life. He blamed Herrera's death on a momentary lapse in judgment, saying, "That one moment does not take the innocence away from this beautiful young man."

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Teen's death raises awareness of designer drugs