Robert Braiser, a 19-year-old freshmen found deceased in his McMahon dorm room by Seattle Fire Fighters and UWPD February 28, died from acute intoxication due to combined effects of opiates and cocaine. The death was ruled an accident, the King County Medical Examiner's Office reported yesterday.

"What we're looking at appears to be an accidental overdose," Assistant Chief of UWPD Ray Wittmier said. "Part of what was found in his system was cocaine, as well as some other drugs."

According to sayno.com, a Web site designed for people who specialize in teaching about drug abuse, "Opiates are derived from a sap taken from a seed pod of the plant papaver somniferum." This plant is more commonly known as a poppy seed plant.

According to thegooddrugsguide.com, a site intended as a non-biased online reference guide for recreational drugs, heroin is one of the most commonly used, fastest acting and addictive members of the opiate family. Other opiates include opium, morphine and codeine.

Brasier was not only an accomplished high-school athlete and a member of the UW baseball team, but was also a merited scholar, entering college with a 4.2 GPA.

Despite having been excused from the baseball team last January, Brasier was still close to the team, associate athletic director Richard Kilwien said.

According to the UW Athletic Department, reasons for Brasier's dismissal have not been released out of respect for his family.

Wittmier said he hopes students will learn from this tragic incident so that such cases can be avoided in the future.

"The message we would like people to take away from this is to really pay attention to what is happening around you with your friends or your roommate," Wittmier said. "Report things to someone so that they can take some sort of action to help the person."

He also said students should be aware of the on-campus resources available regarding drug-abuse issues.

"If you know somebody with a drug problem, encourage them to go to Hall Health and speak with the staff there to see what they can do, or encourage them to go to the student life offices to hook up with resources that may help them with their problem," Wittmier said. "Obviously, we would much rather have [that] happen rather than a tragedy such as this one."

Reach reporter Camden Swita at news@thedaily.washington.edu.