Partygoers Defend Man Who Supplied Dangerous Drug At Konawa Party

Ashli Sims, News On 6

KONAWA, Oklahoma -- The dangerous drug that killed two people after a party in Konawa last weekend was ordered through the internet.

The man who sold it to the partygoers was arrested, but what charges he could face is still being debated.

Cody Weddle is being held for first-degree murder. But some wonder whether he can be charged with the crime, if the drug he sold his friends wasn't actually illegal.

2C-E, 2C-E Fly, Bromo-Dragon Fly.

Whichever designer drug Stacy Jewell and Andrew Akerman took, the high cost them their lives.

5/13/2011 Related Story: Second Victim Dies After Taking Designer Drug In Konawa

Pontotoc County prosecutors say the sale of those drugs could cost Cody Weddle his freedom.

"Yeah he took our money, but he's not a drug dealer," Madison Wolf said.

Madison Wolf and Colton Simons also overdosed on the drug, but they recovered. They say this was no crime, but an accident.

"I don't feel right with everyone blaming him," Simmons said. "It was an act of ignorance on all our parts. no one made us take it."

Simons and his friends believed they were taking 2C-E, which was made illegal in Oklahoma, back in 2008. Turns out, the drug was a chemical cousin of 2C-E, which puts it in a legal gray area.

But Pontotoc County's DA says it doesn't matter if the drug is explicitly illegal or not.

"It mimics the effects of a controlled dangerous drug and so it would fall into the same category as 2 CE. So it would be prosecuted the same by us whether it was 2C-E or not 2C-E," Chris Ross said.

Attorney Mark Collier is not associated with the case. But he's been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney over his 23-year legal career.

"In this particular case, it is not uncommon, obviously, for people to die from overdose. But it would be uncommon to try to charge the distributor with felony murder," Collier said.

Weddle hasn't been charged with anything yet, but prosecutors intend to hold him responsible for the lives lost.

Prosecutors and state narcotics cops say even legal substances sold for the purpose of getting high can land the seller behind bars.

5/9/2011 Related Story: Dangerous Drug Linked To Konawa Death Easily Accessible Online