Are Kids Getting High by Boiling Flavored Condoms?

Teens and younger folks do silly issues—you’ve accomplished them, I’ve accomplished them—however a brand new report from India is pushing the bounds of our credulity. Allegedly, Indian youth are boiling flavored condoms and ingesting the water to get excessive. If that sounds to you want a 2022 model of Tide Pods or “pharm parties,” you’re not alone.

According to the CNN-News 18, an English-language outlet in India co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the sale of flavored condoms within the metropolis of Durgapur started skyrocketing in mid-July. When a shopkeeper requested a frequent buyer why younger folks had been all of a sudden obsessive about flavored condoms, the younger man mentioned that he often buys condoms to get excessive.

The total observe, when you ask us, looks like a throwback to the outrage and horror that griped the web after we thought that scores of teenagers had been consuming Tide Pods. Despite widespread media protection and fear, a very, very small amount of teens really ingested Tide Pods.

How Young People Are Supposedly Getting High Off Condoms

How do folks get excessive with condoms, of all issues, you ask? In this case, the information report mentioned that younger folks could also be boiling the condoms in scorching water for hours after which ingesting the water.

While this will likely sound completely weird, Udayan Basak, a polymer chemistry analysis scholar, instructed Vice that this theoretically is feasible, though it hasn’t but been confirmed in a sensible experiment.

To higher perceive, we have now to investigate the elements in condoms. Condoms include the artificial resin polyurethane, he defined, for sturdiness and stretching functions. They are created from polyisoprene, which is a element of rubber, and make the most of glycerin to offer the merchandise particular flavors.

The key right here is the polyurethane.

“[I]t is believed that ethylene glycol, a kind of alcohol, is produced when the polyurethane breaks down after boiling flavored condoms in water and [keeping them aside] for six to eight hours,” Basak mentioned, as reported by Vice.

Experts who spoke to CNN-News 18 in contrast it to the excessive people get from sniffing glue, which may produce a short lived sense of euphoria or hallucinations that normally solely lasts for a few minutes.

However, sniffing glue and different inhalants, akin to spray paint, markers, and cleansing fluid, can result in dangerous long-term results. These embrace kidney harm, listening to loss, bone barrow harm, lack of coordination, limb spasms, and mind harm, as defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Inhalant overdoses are much more harmful and may result in seizures, coma, and even dying.

Joydeep Ghosh, an inside medication guide in Kolkata, instructed Vice that comparable issues can occur when younger folks drink flavored condom water.

“Drinking this water can cause intoxication and addiction. If consumed repeatedly, it will negatively impact the lungs and kidneys, as well as harm the body’s nervous system,” Ghosh mentioned.

Why You Should Be Skeptical That Teens Are Drinking Condom Water to Get High

The information of youth purportedly getting excessive on condom water has made the rounds on the web in current days, inspiring articles and scientific explainers just like the one referenced above. Considering that teenagers had been as soon as dipping their balls in soy sauce, it’s attainable to imagine that youngsters would boil condoms within the harebrained pursuit of a excessive.

It’s not clear if any teenagers are literally doing this very silly factor. The CNN-News 18 report primarily based its story on the account of 1 shopkeeper who requested his younger buyer why condoms had been flying off his cabinets. And, whereas it very effectively could also be that that teen particularly was utilizing condoms to get excessive, there’s not sufficient proof for now to say whether or not any current enhance of flavored condom gross sales will be attributed to this weird observe.