he started to foam at the mouth convulsing uncontrollably. this is the only time we've reached out to a school system, to say hey, there's this new drug on the streets. >> deadly new drugs on the american streets. >> designed to evade the lawitiolaw. >> once they alter the chemical. it is no longer a controlled substance. >> and to maximize process.

>> imported into the u.s. by mail and sold online, you said up a large drug scale drug trafficking organization by using a computer. that to me is scary. this stuff is not safe because you can order it on the internet. >> tonight, the new drug threat, a deadly high. there's a kid laying on the sidewalk, he looks like he has been beat up. 911, yeah. there's a guy laying face down looks like he's passed out with no shoe on. >> when the officers arrived, they found him lying face down on the sidewalk, they found the other victim. it was reported that he was sitting on the grass yelling at a parked car acting

incoherently. >> on the morning of july 11th, 2012 police in north dakota were facing a new threat on city stree streets. >> and you found another guy on the park. >> naked? >> yeah, he was naked. >> the naked teenager and the young man yelling at the car would live but police already knew the young man lying face down on the sidewalk was dead. and in the small city of grand forest, they also knew who he was. >> he teared up and i didn't know what was going on. i said what's the matter. >> he said it's krichristian an said what. he said he's deceased and he just hung his head and you know there are moments that you just don't forget them. >> christian was a star high school football player. the police officer who came to notify his parents keith and debby had been christian's youth

football coach. >> it never occurred to me that it would be anything like this. he said -- then he told me we don't know. i said, well, what? what do you mean? i said did somebody kill him? he looked at me and said we don't know keith. i can't tell you anything. >> keith saw his son just the night before, june 10th, 2012. it was 11:00 at night. >> he was going to run out to a gas station. he said i'll be right back. ive sai said i'll see you in th morning son and gave him a hug and kiss goodnight. >> he picked me up and shook me like that and said love you dad. i'll be right back. >> his body would be found a short distance away from a house party. what killed this healthy, 18-year-old was a mystery that was about to strike this small, midwest community again.

>> we need an ambulance. there's a kid who's not breathing. it's east grand forest, i don't think he's breathing at all. >> he's dead. >> i know. can you guys start cpr with him? >> yeah. >> it is three days before eli's birthday. >> he would be 18. >> yeah. he wanted to go to grand forks to see his cousin and spend time with justin. >> melissa's son elijia was in grand forks to celebrate an upcoming birthday. he was with his foster brother justin. >> what were you planning that weekend. >> not a whole lot. just hang out basically. >> they would find themselves hanging out and sleeping over at the home of a cousin's boyfriend, neither had known 18-year-old adam budge but he seemed nice. budge said he had a special treat, a bag of chocolate that he had cooked with a white powder he says it extract from

psychedelic mushrooms. >> he gave eli and i the bag and said here you go. have fun. we just kind of started taking bites out of it and just eating it. it tasted just like chocolate. no bad chemical taste. just chocolate and we ended up splitting the bag. it was nothing like i've ever had before. i was kind of scared but i was like reassuring myself and my subconscious that it's just mushrooms. it's just mushrooms. it wasn't just psychedelic mushrooms. it was something much worse. >> for justin, it was already too late to stop what was about to happen. >> do you remember what was happening? what you were seeing? >> the trees looked like kol co flowers dancing around. swaying really funny and the sidewalks were swooping up and down like a roller coaster and the grass was shooting up to the

sky and dropping back down. >> you were really tripping? >> yeah. i was like this is getting really intense. >> downstairs, eli was beginning to convulse. >> adam was already down there with eli. he had told me that eli was going into a bad trip i was like do we need to call 911. >> he said no. it's just mushrooms he's going to be fine. he's just going into a bad trip. he started to i guess foam at the mouth. yelling. ive guei guess he was hitting h head convulsing uncontrollably. finally the police were called. i started to assist with cpr. with the affects of the drugs, i wasn't able to do it. his face started to contort because of the drugs and it really messed me up. i told him i was going to wait outside for 911 to direct him in because i couldn't see him like that. i was -- he was dead. >> he was dead.

>> necessithey got the phone ca eli wasn't breathing, blue in the face. >> you had to call your mom? >> i called her when i went outside waiting for 911 -- >> and told her -- >> and toll hd her that he died. were you able to fully tell her why? >> no. i was ashamed of myself for failing him for or less. i felt like i had failed him. >> justin was a teen when eli's family had taken him in. raised h ed him as their own. after everything they had done for me and eli was laying there dead and i was alive. eli suffered multiple organ failures and went into cardiac arrest cutting the oxygen supply to his brain. when we got to the hospital, doctors said eli was brain dead.

he was not hospital for three days on life support. so we had to make the call to disconnect him. >> there were now two dead. teenagers overdosing and dying from a deadly drug and no one knew what it was or where it was coming from.

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nexium 40 mg is only available by prescription. talk to your doctor. for free home delivery, enroll in nexium direct today. in the week of june 10th, 2012, law enforcement in grand farks we forks were dealing with an out break of violent overdoses. a mystery drug on the streets had already killed two

teenagers. we've got multiple overdoses, two young men that lost their lives. what's more serious than that. >> that was unprecedented. i had been u.s. attorney now for going on four years. this is the only time we've reached out to a school system and to a university that there's some danger on the streets that people need to be aware of. >> as the emergency warnings were being issued vainvestigato were desperately trying to find out what it was and more importantly where it came from. >> it took lab aanalysis to find out the true nature of the substances u when we learned what they were, that was new to us. >> tcimbomu and 2 ccmbome are two synthetic drugs to imitate lsd. these drugs are so potent, a few

grains of salt is enough to get high. the federal prosecutor had never heard of them and neither had christian's parents. >> i had to go an look up information on that. i didn't understand the whole synthetic drug. i didn't know what he it was. didn't know how dangerous they were. >> the message we got on the internet was that somebody said it was okay for somebody to be on the street. they had been tweaked. but that's all we knew. >> synthetic lsd has been blamed -- parents akrocross the country are now learning the truth about synthetic drugs. >> overwise known as k 2 with deaths and overdoses reported almost daily. >> poisons a 15-year-old girl. >> 16-year-old girl's life abruptly ended at 18 years old. >> these drugs are being

marketed and sold as legal alternatives to marijuana, cocaine, lsd, methamphetamine, lsd and heroin. in the last four years, synthetic drugs have flooded into the united states. even the popular club drug molly which is marketed as a pure form of the drug ecstacy is being replaced by a variety of synthetic compounds according to dea scientists, the highs may be the same but the molecular structure is modified just enough to evade the law. >> these chemical companies are alt e alt e altering the compound ever so slightly to avoid the law in the united states. >> so it's a game? >> it is. >> these drugs are particularly dangerous because users can't be sure what they are getting. >> we've seen packages that have

the exact same label, the exact same brand, same flavoring that are sent at the exact same time that have completely different drugs in them. almost every state and the federal government have passed laws outlawing specific chemical formulas sold out sin thyntheti drugs but the manufacturers are staying one step ahead of law enforce. these companies anticipate future law enforcement actions and they have a new chemical compound that is ready to take the place of the drugs that we control. >> in the new world of drug dealing, chemicals are manufactured overseas, sold online in bulk and imported into the u.s. they are then assembled, packaged and sold as research chemicals, labels not for human consumption to avoid prosecution. is there any legitimate

industrial purpose of these chemic chemicals. >> we're not aware of any legitimate, industrial or medical use for the chemicals. >> you can buy them on hundreds of websites that say it is all legal. we did. the cost, around $30 a packet. >> afghan black ultra, collectors item not for human consumption is what it says on this prod unuct description. >> we sent these collectors items to an analytical lab in ann arbor michigan, all of them contained dangerous chemicals. >> this is the hall use inn oe general and only a lab test can determine exactly what's inside. >> we found a variety of substances including synthetic kan abin oids and amphetamine anle log all which i would consider to be designer drugs. >> how dangerous is this from a

chemical compound situation. >> squiquite dangerous. there's a whole variety of affects from rapid heartbeat seizures, psychosis, several reported suicides. in grand forks, north dakota, the deaths of eli and christian. it turns out the drugs that killed eli and christian arrived in grand forks by mail purchased over the internet by a local drug dealer. he was one of the primary sources of supply for anle log controlled substances in the area but finding that dealer would turn out to be only the beginning and unraveling this deadly mystery which was about to take yet another turn. dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future.you. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them.

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as police were learning more about the sinnetic drugs that killed two teens in north dakota, there was someone in that city that was somewhat of an expert. the local drug dealer andrew spawford who along with marijuana and cocaine was also selling synthetic drugs that he bought on the internet. they came wrapped, stamped and delivered right to his door. >> he had a fairly good working knowledge of the substances, the potency of the substances and what dosage unit would be common for a typical user amounts. >> what he didn't know was he was getting ripped off. in a crime that would set off a deadly chain of events one of his customers adam budge had

broken into his home and stolen a bag of white powder without knowing exactly what was inside that bag or just how potent it was. he melted the powder into chocolate that he gave to his new friends, including eli. he also sold some of the same drug with a young man that would share it. adam early on in the investigation was the common link between these two overdose victims so adam prepared the drugs in some chocolates and both he an eli consumed some of those chocolates and eli died from them. >> 1,400 miles away in a suburb of houston, texas a father and entrepreneur was oblivious to the fact that an unraveling chain of events in grand forest

was about to turn his world upside down. >> i always kind of enjoyed the started with experimenting with lsd in high school and i started ordering designer drugs off the internet and experimenting with those and realized that there was money to be made in distributing them in small quantities. carlton had an idea to turn his passion for synthetic hallucinogens to a business. he would limit the customers to those like him, knowledgeable and interested in experimenting with synthetic highs, his company, motion resources with its web site called motion research would be a boutique drug dealership for enthusiast.

we could put in pepople's hands things that they wouldn't be able to get otherwise. it was turning into a real business. >> though the company's product, the illegal drug lsd, carlson says the chemicals he was selling weren't yet scheduled or banned yet in the united states. he set up shop in this office building and even registered with the secretary of state and went to work. >> i was an employee of my own company getting a w 2. we had full pay roll services. it was as legitimate as it could be. we knew we were walking a very fine line as far as the law was concerned but at the time we thought we were on the right side of it. without so much as leaving his computer, carlton said he and his two colleagues were repackaging chemicals they bought in bulk, filling 30 to 40 orders a day. it's fairly easy to find

chemical suppliers. the product sells itself generally as much of it as you can get we can get rid of pretty quickly. motion resources had customers in all 50 states and profits were rolling in. carlton was not unlike any other drug trafficker. he's looking for the best product at the lowest price. so he would obtain this product from the best suppliers he could find. >> what is a little different is that he was able to do all of this in the comfort of his own study in his house. >> right. basically he set up this business from a computer that was hooked up to the internet. >> right. >> he set up a large scale drug trafficking organization by using a computer. >> that to me is scary. >> it is scary because of the ability to mass market their product to an enormous customer

base under the guise of a legitimate business. >> carlton felt that guise of a legitimate business would hold up in court as long as his customers agreed to the phrase sent on every package sent out that none of what he was selling would actually be consumed. >> so what was the price? for analytical and research purposes only what would be the purpose only than to consume and experience the high? >> that's a good question. i mean i make no mistake we knew people were consuming it. i honestly don't know how it grew so fast but it got to point where we processed 40 to 50,000 a month in credit card payments. >> at that point you thought hey, i've got a legitimate shop running here. >> i did. it was all going so well. motion resources was up and running for eight months. grand forks police were called to -- >> until one day carlton saw a story on the news about drug

overdoses in grand forest, north dakota. >> i saw a news story where there was an overdose death in north dakota and then pretty quickly there was a tv news report and they showed a baggy that said something on it. we used very specific bags. so we had a very special label maker that printed on clear labels. it was blatantly obvious that it was ours. >> what was your immediate reaction? >> i was in shock. i have kids you know? we didn't want anything like that to happen. i mean that's the only reaction i had.

i don't even know to describe it. >> gou did you go to work the n day? >> well, i did. >> carlton says he didn't want to draw attention so he continued to run motion resources as if nothing had happened. he says he was trying to sell off his supply, shut the business down but the prosecutor says there's evidence carlton was in the process of changing the business name, allegedly to keep motion resources running. >> carlton admits he was sweating with good reason. >> his world was about to crumble by a betrayal on the inside. every day and alert you if anything looks suspicious. nice. i'm looking into some suspicious activity myself. madame that is not a changing table. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card at discover.com

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in texas, charles carlton was living in fear. he knew he had soul tld drugs t killed two teens in north dakota because he shipped them to one of his clients in grand forks named andrew spawford. >> at any time along the way before the deaths did you consider, i got to stop this? >> i did. you know, it was the cause of probably quite a few arguments between my wife and i. she didn't want to have anything

to do with it. she didn't want me to have anything to do with it. >> at one point she destroyed your office. >> she did he. >> she had had enough. >> she did. >> she knew you were doing wrong. >> she did and so did i. >> carlton says he was becoming paranoid paranoid. he had good reason. one of his colleagues, a man named harry george suddenly quit. prosecutors got a phone call that would crack the case. before we heard the motion resources, his partner contacted our office through his lawyer and indicated to us that he could explain the entire conspiracy to us. >> nicklaus would you avoid prosecution but charles carlton would not be so lucky. when police raided the office of motion resource and carlton's home, they found this critical piece of evidence.

prove that carlton's guise of legitimacy that his drugs were being sold for research was all just a cover for their real purpose. in his own hand, ka carlton was detailing how to use the drugs and how dangerous they could be. it was a journal documenting these substances being used by mr. carlton and friends of him and the affects and the various amounts of the substances and how they would affect the body. that was powerful evidence to show that they knew full well what these substances would do and informed this company to sell them. >> carlton decided not it afight and plet yi pled guilty to three counts, possession to distribute, money laundering and misbranding. it could send him to prison for life. >> i can't justify anything that i did. i don't plan to. the only thing that i hope to do

is let as many people know as possible that no matter how hard you try to be safe or no matter how hard or how well you think you have it under control, somebody is going to get hurt or even die. these chemicals are so dangerous that all it takes is for someone to just have some of it and not know what they have. >> yet you did think that. you thought you were smart enough to handle it and smart th smart enough to think that your customers knew what the hell they were doing. >> that's right. he's the 15th person so far to be prosecuted under the north dakota federal drug case now called operation stolen youth. it began with the deaths of christian and eli stye. andrew who bought the drugs online from carlton, adam who

got the drugs from andrew, the teen who bought the drugs and shared them with christine and several low level dealers are all behind bars. >> let's hear it one for time for our 2011 student athletes. >> i know exactly what he was saying to me. he was actually telling me he was hungry and he wanted to eat right after game. i was going to go out with some friends and get a sandwich. >> and at the hearings and sentencings, debbie has been there to speak about her son christian and play this video. it's one thing to read a name on a sheet of paper that this person died. it's another thing to see actual footage of them talking, walking, being with their family. she will be there when charles carlton is sentenced.

you will upon sentencing see and hear from those parents. undoubtedly, christian's mom is going to play that video of her son. have you thought about how you're going to handle that moment? >> i haven't. i have thought about the moment but i haven't necessarily fought about how i am going to handle it. that will be the same moment theoretically you'll have to say good-bye to your kids. >> well, it's sat the same. me saying good-bye to my kids, i'm going to be down the street i'll be back in a while while is completely the kind of good-bye they had to give to their kids. their kids aren't coming back. >> carlton's wife susan even knows a reduced sentence will mean that she will raise their two young children alone.

>> you will then be there to see the mothers of the two boys who died and hear their story about their sons who are no longer here. do you hold your husband responsible for that? >> not entirely. not entirely, i can't. i hate that he was apart of this. my heart goes out to those mothers. it just simply should have never, ever happened. the case is about to come to a final conclusion for charles carlton, he and his wife have arrived in grand forks and are about to head into the federal courthouse to face his fate. but with all of the arrests and

criminal cases, the major source of synthetic drugs remains untouched, the big fish is getting away. >> ultimately, it has to stop with the manufacturing have asility ovfacility. there are nothing more than industrial grade chemicals. >> not dangerous. not poisonous. if yand you're talking toevere rheumyour rheumatologiste me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain

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there is a new drug war under way. at los angeles international, the new battle is trying to intercept synthetic, designer drugs. >> customs inspectors open and test suspicious packages, looking for what's not listed on custom forms. this package claims to contain plastic. it turns out to be bath salts, a chemical produced synthetic stimulant that mimics meth. it is an analog of methalone which is a scheduled treated

substance so this can be treated as a scheduled controlled substance and according the dea came from the country that's shipping most of the synthetic substances world wide. >> it's no secret to law enforcement where it comes from and it's no secret to drug dealers seeking to become entrepreneurs in the new world of designer drugs. >> any laboratory in china if you send them what's called a cast number which is -- it's just a number that's designated to every chemical substance that exists as long as it is not scheduled, they will manufacture it for you specifically. it's called a custom synthesis and ship it to you. >> charles carlton who sold the drugs that kill them said he uses the internet to buy much of the supply in bulk from china. >> you can order from a guy in poland and receive a package

from china a. there are a lot of brokers. >> is it all labeled as research chemical, not labeled for human consumption when you get it. >> for the most part, yes. >> shanghai, china's largest city. it's towering water front and bustling streets, it is also home to chemical cuompanies churing out synthetics in the immerging market of the synthetic drug world, the shanghai region is the epicenter. this is the office of a synthetic drug dealer undercover video taken by a french documentary filmmaker of a bragging drug entrepreneur claiming to supply the world with his manufactured highs. this stuff, sells popular in russian market. people take it and put it in

their mouth or nose it's okay. >> this tour is a sales pitch. the undercover reporter is pretending to be a buyer. >> not dangerous. not poisonous. >> they are famous in america. k 2. not for human consumption. your design, logo, what kind of size of packaging you want. and we will directly send it from china. we handle all of the logistics. if the package is lost, we resend for free. that's our guarantee.

>> i have already won $50 million from this market. so you see we're not small. >> what is the u.s. doing about this? negotiating. when i visited china and began negotiations over a year ago with our chinese counterparts, it was about these are not under the control of china law. gill is the u.s. customs commissioner and president obama's former drug tsar. he says he has been working with the chinese to ban the manufacture of sin thynthetic d in china. we said you should really consider placing these under your manndates because they are clearly being designed to harm people. i think china recognized too that they have a lot of chemical plants. they do a lot of export. we have to be closer in our ties

and closer in our communication with them about where these drugs are coming from. >> according to the u.s. drug enforcement administration, china has made some arrests and has recently banned 11 synthetic substances. cnn cannot confirm china is doing anything. for months, cnn has requested visas for a cnn investigative team to travel to shanghai. there have been continuous requests for chinese officials for additional information but the visas have not been granted. the requests for an interview or comment from china's ambassador here in the u.s. have gone unanswered. >> this is the fun eeral to eli. melissa, eli's mother doesn't understand what there is no necessityigotiate negotiate. chinese factories are making a fortune selling poison. >> what would you like to say to them? >> how dare you come into my

country and sell drugs to our children. >> do you think they care? >> no. they don't care. >> cnn has learned the synthetic drugs that killed melissa's son eli and christian were most likely made in china. >> so far there appears to be no movement by the u.s. to find and prosecute the manufacturer of this synthetic poison. the federal prosecutor in this case will not discuss the source of the chemicals. and that is not good enough for debbie and keith burke. >> i would like to know the name of the factory where these drugs were manufactured. >> you don't know the name of the factory. >> no, i have not been told the name of the factory. do they know it? >> i'm sure they do. and i would like to -- i said what can i do write letters, whatever. i have been told that -- it would be sort of pointless

because it's legal in china. but the people over there need to know that these drugs are killing people. >> in north dakota, the case that is now called operation stolen youth that began with the death of their son, christian burke is helding back to federal court in fargo. the next chapter is about to unfold where a nervous charles carlton, the federal prosecution's main target in this case is about to be sentenced. >> i know that it's going to be a long time. i know that i'm going to be severely punished, you know, for what i am responsible for. [ shutter clicks ] hi there! [ laughs ] -i'm flo! -i know! i'm going to get you your rental car. this is so ridiculous. we're going to manage your entire repair process from paperwork to pickup, okay, little tiny baby? your car is ready, and your repairs

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fargo, north dakota. august 28th, 2014. it has been more than two years since christian burke and eli died from a chemical poisoning from synthetic drugs. in a matter of hours, charles carlton, ithe man who sold the drug will become the 15th and likely last person to be sentenced in the case. i know that it will be a long time and i know that i will be severely punished for what i'm

responsible for. >> at the federal courthouse, the family of christian is already heading inside. they have been at most of the hearings and sentencings to show this video and pictures of their 18-year-old son before and even after he was found dead on a grand forks sidewalk. carlton is struggling with what to say to them. he's also struggling knowing he could spend the next two decades an as long as the rest of his life behind bars. >> make no mistake it's going to completely change my life. i will never be able to come back out and go home to the same place i left whether it be ten or 20. i am extremely nervous. i owe an apology to so many people and i have been grappling with how to do it. every single person in the courtroom i will owe an apology to on both sides which youing

t including the community. >> carlton's wife and parents have travelled from houston to be here. operation stolen youth which started with five overdoses and two deaths, so far has led to 14 defendants cobb vinvicted and sentenced to a total of 101 years in prison. lives ruined because of this powder two years ago seemed like an innocent, safe, synthetic high. >> the prosecutors thinks the exhaustive case has been a success. the message sent is that these are dangerous substances and hopefully that helps raise awareness and save some lives. we have two families that lost young kids, kids with promise and bright futures for no reason. >> cameras are not allowed inside federal court. charles carlton with his wife quietly crying one room behind him is sentenced to 20 years in

prison. outside court, the burkes leave for the last time. their sentence is for life. >> it's never going to be done. christian was our child. he's our flesh and blood. he's someone that was so important to us. we would have given our lives for him. our job now is just to get the word out there to other people so that no other families have to go through this kind of thing and to honor our son and to honor his memory. >> only kids and young adults sitting in here today please tell them the story. since their son christian's death, the burkes have become activists, getting out the word on the dangers of synthetic drugs. thanks to their efforts, north dakota has put in new legislation banning a number of synthetics and federally, the drug that killed christian and eli is now on the list of banned substances.

this stuff is not safe because you can order it on the internet. don't be fooled by that of the don't put yourself and your family in the position that these families in grand forks found themselves. talk to your kids that synthetic drugs are dangerous. all drugs are dangerous. >> this was done for the memorial for eli. his friends signed that. that came. the family of eli stye say they too hope their son's death can be a warning to others about the dangers of synthetic drugs. >> our lives will never be the same. i don't know if you can really put something like that into words what your life is like after you lose a kid. it's a horrific thing to have to go through for any parent. eli was a good kid. this can happen to any family.

i talked to a lot of people during the course of a day or month. you know, if it comes up, we have this conversation and most people still don't know what they are. they don't know what the drugs are or how badly they can impact their lives. we're witnessing the impact now. we've had this horrible loss. we lost a child. we didn't know about the drugs. we know about them now and the word needs to get out there to the rest of the world these things will kill your kids. they are going to kill anybody who takes them. they are pure unadulterated poison.

♪ people are lighting up all over the country. they call it the green rush. marijuana has moved out of the back alleys and into the open. >> happy cannabis, y'all. >> in some states it's legal to grow, to sell, to smoke. and marijuana could be legalized in a city near you. so easy to get, and many think so harmless. but when the smoke clears, can marijuana bad for you? or could pot actually be good for you? >> marijuana is better than all those pills for you in terms of treating? >> yeah. >> i travel the world for answers.