Two teens were hospitalized over the weekend after they reportedly took acid and psychedelic mushrooms while they were visiting Rock Island State Park.
The teens, Samantha C. Dubin, 18, and Christy Czerak, 18, were taken by ambulance to St. Thomas River Park Hospital due to their condition brought on by ingesting the cocktail of hazardous drugs.
Meanwhile, Alexander S. Mellar, 23, has been charged with possession of acid and mushrooms, possession of drug paraphernalia, and public intoxication. A fourth teen, Stephen Young Jr., 19, was also with the group and has been charged with public intoxication.
According to park ranger Jason Miller, an ambulance was dispatched to the park to help a person who was having difficulty breathing. When the ranger arrived to the scene, he found four youths from Illinois who were visiting the park.
“Mr. Mellar said he had taken two hits of acid and eaten mushrooms and taken one hit of DMT,” Miller recalled. “He said the girls had taken four hits of acid apiece and Young took two hits of acid, a hit of, and had taken mushrooms.”
DMT, or Dimethyltryptamine is a psychedelic drug as is acid, Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The mushrooms ingested by the youths are also considered psychedelic since they can cause hallucinations and greatly alter the user’s conception of reality.
“Mr. Young could not communicate due to the illegal drugs he had taken and was unaware of his surroundings,” the ranger noted.
A sober Mellar appeared before Special Judge Larry Ross on Tuesday morning and had his bond set at $10,000 on his charges. The other three suspects, since recovered from their psychedelic trips, were each released on time-served, fined $10 plus costs and granted judicial diversions since they did not have prior criminal records. A diversion means their criminal records will be erased as long as they do not get into any more trouble.
The group did not volunteer why they decided to take the cocktail of potentially lethal drugs while visiting the park.