It’s nothing new that we read about teens and alcohol consumption or drug use in our community and around the country. What does change are the methods and the lengths that our teenagers are going to now in order to achieve that high. It seems that kids will try anything, will do anything, no matter how distasteful and that makes it more important than ever for parents to be aware of the latest ways their kids are consuming alcohol. Please be aware that some of this information is graphic in nature.
The newest trend that is spreading across the country is the consumption of hand sanitizer. Teens can buy as much of this common household product as they want at the local dollar store and can carry it without anyone giving it a second thought. The problem is that hand sanitizer contains 60% alcohol so a young person can drink a small bottle and get the same effects as if they had just swallowed several shots of hard liquor. Kids have learned how to remove the alcohol from the gel-like substance through the use of bath salts and with lots of You Tube videos demonstrating the procedure, more and more of our children are being exposed to this practice. Not surprisingly, ingestion of hand sanitizer has serious health risks that, if swallowed on a regular basis, could even lead to a coma. http://www.drugfreehomes.org/
Another horrific trend that is building in popularity with teenagers similar to vodka soaked tampons is what is commonly referred to on the streets as “butt chugging”. This new high is achieved by inserting a funnel into the rectum that is attached to a tube and then some sort of alcohol is poured in. The problem with this practice, other than being extremely disgusting, is that the tissue inside the rectum absorbs the alcohol extremely quickly. This can easily lead to alcohol poisoning and even death in a very short amount of time. As this new trend is growing in popularity at a very rapid rate, parents are urged to talk with their kids about the extreme dangers of trying anything like this. http://www.hangover.org/
It would appear that some teenagers nowadays are willing to do almost anything to obtain a drunken state including drinking household products and violating their young bodies with foreign objects. These are serious practices that could have fatal consequences and that should make it every parent’s priority to address with their young teens. If you know someone who is participating in these or similar acts, seek out someone or someplace, such as Al-Anon, who has programs designed for teenagers. You could very well help save a life that has yet to really begin.
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