House Government Accountability and Oversight
Columbus, Ohio- Tuesday, 5/19/15
Good afternoon. I’m Kate Stiner. This is my husband Dennis.
We’re theproud parents of Logan James Stiner, who almost a year to the date was killed by caffeine.
On May 27, 2014, Logan was introduced to caffeine. In less than 2 hours he was dead on the floor of our family home, afraid and alone. I believe Logan had time to feel the physical pain of a caffeine overdose and his own impending doom. I believe he was terrified, and sad. I even believe that Logan felt his hopes, promises and dreams pass through him in his final breath. What happened?
We’d all wished more than anything we’d have heard of this bitter alkaloid before. A white powder with a name that we all know but associate with coffee, tea or sodas. Caffeine sounds innocuous enough.
We’d have given our lives to know last year that caffeine powder is manufactured by extracting the purest active ingredient from caffeine, a deadly stimulant with no room for error. It is easily bulked into a power by basement chemists with no regard for the safety or the people they ship it to.
Caffeine Powder, when used in an industrial or pharmaceutical setting has clear warnings on its packaging and Material Handling Sheets to enforce the safety of the people handing it. Instructions are included for touching, ventilation, inhalation and spill procedures in their environments.
These facts were largely unknown by the general public prior to May 27th, 2014, but don’t be fooled, we don’t ask for choking regulation in Bill #7. We ask for accountability to those who knowingly and cunningly distribute and profit from the sale of this killer with no regard for where it lands or who it kills. They assume the victims are stupid people who cannot understand their intentionally vague labeling. I assure you, Logan Stiner was never careless nor stupid.
We can tell you the facts about powdered caffeine today, but maybe wealready have. What we do know for an unmitigated fact is thatwe have allowed this matter due process with the help of so many people who, like Logan, want to make a difference for the better.
We support and thank Senator Manning for her work on Bill #7 for Logan and the State of Ohio. We thank the Ohio Senate Criminal Justice Committee for further seeing it to this point, and we ask you to consider allowing Bill #7 to advance so that that the State of Ohio sends the message to the sellers that the loopholes using a natural supplement as a death sentence are backfilled permanently in our state.
Thank you.
Dennis & Kate Stiner