BY CDNN

Marijuana, shoddy dive gear, no scuba training: It's easy to die
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (12 Sep 2007) -- A manN who died while scuba diving was high on cannabis and using shonky dive gear, Wellington Coroners Court has ...

A man who died while scuba diving was high on cannabis and using shonky dive gear, Wellington Coroners Court has found.

Coroner Garry Evans said the death of Junior Tana, 53, underlined the need to stick to some basic rules of scuba diving – taking a proper dive course, servicing gear regularly and never diving under the influence of drugs.

Mr Tana was diving with two mates at Lyall Bay on August 28 last year when he got into difficulty. He was dragged to shore by one of his friends. Nearby fisheries officers, who had been secretly watching the three divers, tried to resuscitate him, but he died soon afterward.

An autopsy revealed the presence of gas in his chest, heart and liver. There were traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in his blood, consistent with smoking a cannabis joint 90 minutes before his death.

Mr Evans found that he died from an embolism when gas bubbles entered his bloodstream.

A police report said his dive gear was in "very poor" condition. "Several items . . . were in dire need of servicing or replacement."

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