Michigan mother warns about garden flower son used to get high, attempt suicide

WESTLAND, Mich. - A Michigan mother wants to warn other parents after her son died. A popular flower from your garden could be the next thing your teen uses to get high.

“He misses Tyler very badly,” said Kathy Schutt while she pet Tyler’s golden retriever Murphy.

Schutt also misses her son very much. She had no idea that a violet flower commonly found in garden might one day play a role in his death.

“Every day I cry. Every day I miss him,” said Kathy.

The 17-year-old from Westland, Mich. died three months ago from complications he suffered when he tried to hang himself when he was 14 years old.

“Within 10 minutes,15 at the most, I went in his room, and he was hanging,” said Kathy.

Tyler Schutt survived, but because he lost so much oxygen to his brain, it left him a quadriplegic. The eighth grader who loved to play hockey could no longer walk, talk or feed himself.

“The hardest part for me was getting to know a whole different Tyler,” said Kathy.

Doctors told Kathy they found marijuana in Tyler’s system and traces of another dangerous substance in the form of seeds from a morning glory flower.

“I was shocked, I never heard anything about it,” said Kathy.

Tyler had the flower in his room and had sucked on the seeds to help him get an LSD-like high. A few months earlier he had been caught smoking pot and was being treated for depression.

Dr. Sanford Vieder, the Medical Director at Lakes Urgent Care in West Bloomfield, Mich., said the seeds can be deadly.

“The more seeds that are ingested and the greater the dosage and ultimately the lethal dose can be approached by taking too many of those seeds,” said Dr. Vieder.

He said teens who use morning glory seeds and similar drugs usually struggle to keep the high they are on.

“Coming back down off the drug, there can be a depressant effect that can take place and there are also some suicidal feelings that can come along with that same mix of person,” said Dr. Vieder. Kathy believes that’s what happened to her son.

“I really believe that it was from the effects of the morning glory seeds, because he was fine when I went to take a shower,” said Kathy.

Now she’s trying to warn other parents so they don’t have to lose a child like she did.

“I miss Tyler’s smile. I miss holding his hand. And, I feel like I’ve lost... a part of me has gone with Tyler,” said Kathy.