How The Flakka Drug Epidemic Nearly Drove South Florida To Madness
Drug Enforcement Administration The effects of flakka are so gruesome that the U.S. put a ban on 116 different Chinese substances used to make it.
It started in Jupiter, South Florida, on Aug. 15, 2016. That evening, 19-year-old college sophomore Austin Harrouff was dining with his family at a restaurant.
The trouble began when Harrouff abruptly walked out of the restaurant. His parents soon found him at his mother’s house, attempting to drink cooking oil. They then dragged him back to the restaurant, but it wasn’t long before he walked out again. The consequences would be far worse this time.
After leaving the restaurant at approximately 9 p.m., Harrouff walked three-and-a-half miles north toward his father’s house in the neighboring town of Tequesta. At about 10 p.m., just before reaching the house, Harrouff happened upon the home of middle-aged couple John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon sitting out in their garage.
The Stevens’ neighbor, Jeff Fisher, called 911 after going over to investigate the commotion in the darkness. He believed that he had been stabbed — and all he could really tell the operator at the time was, “There is a girl laying on the ground. He beat her up. I ran over there. I’m bleeding profusely here at the moment.”
