Michael Ziobro  (1994 – 2017)

I went to say goodnight to my son Michael and I am the one who found him on the floor. I called 911. They came and tried to revive him. But he was gone.  

Michael was a gentle soul, sweet and kind. He grew up playing Little League, learned to play the electric guitar and practiced Tae Kwon Do. He worked with his father as a construction engineer, and the two of them drove to work together each day.  He was especially close to his grandfather. Michael had a contagious smile and a great sense of humor.  How could this happen to us?

My husband and I later found marijuana in Michael’s room, and the medical examiner found evidence of cannabis in his blood. The two packets marijuana there were labeled as having THC concentrations of 28 percent and 24 percent.

We are convinced the high-potency marijuana caused Michael’s heart to go into arrhythmia and killed him.

Michael smoked pot to help with painful irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. We found that there’s no hard medical evidence to support that use.  We have, however, found evidence that marijuana can trigger heart attacks or heart arrhythmia.  

Michael’s death certificate does not list cannabis as the cause of death, although the initial report did list THC as the cause of death. The Medical Examiner later said he could not say what caused a young man’s heart to start beating so erratically that it stopped. My husband and I were unhappy with the explanation and asked state legislators, as well as the police, to investigate.

There were not many studies about marijuana and the heart at the time. Now most studies agree that marijuana raises the heart rate for up to three hours after smoking and it can increase the chance of heart attack.  A person’s risk of heart attack during the first hour after smoking marijuana is nearly five times the usual risk.

I think the push to make cannabis more available is very dangerous. They’re glossing over everything that’s going on with marijuana.

It’s crazy. People think, pot can’t hurt you. It’s natural. Michael was such an advocate. He thought it was wonderful. He thought it was safe. He just thought it was natural and organic and it ended up killing him. Our son Michael was among those hurt by a drug they thought was perfectly safe.

Michael, I love you to the moon and stars and back again.

Kristina Ziobro