You may or may not be aware of a new craze that is sweeping around the world involving the drinking of hand sanitizer. It may sound a little bizarre that anyone would ever feel the urge to drink hand sanitizer but it has become such a big problem in certain areas that police have reported large numbers of people (mainly youngsters) finding themselves in the hospital emergency room as a result.
Here we take a look at 14 shocking facts about drinking hand sanitizer.
A bottle of hand sanitizer contains the equivalent of five hard liquor shots.
Teenagers mix it with Listerine.
Paul Feist, the Deputy Chief of Albuqerque Police Department, has said that police are aware that teenagers mix hand sanitizer with 26% Listerine mouth watch. Apparently when hand sanitizer is mixed with 26% Listerine it makes a “strong cocktail.”
Other teens use salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink similar to a shot of hard liquor.
Like many drugs that are made from house hold products there is always a way to separate chemicals from one another. The alcohol in hand sanitizer is no different and teenagers use salt to sepereate alcohol from the other chemicals found in hand sanitizer.
You’ll get drunk REALLY fast.
Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant, says that when it comes to drinking hand sanitizers you will only need to take a couple of swallows to become pretty drunk. Especially if you happen to be a teenager.
Drinking hand sanitizer was originally a trend in prisons in New Zealand.
Getting drunk off of hand sanizter is most popular in Alaska, Missouri, and California.
According to the LA Times six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer.
KOB Albuquerque reports that Alaska and Missouri also have reports of the growing trend.
Drinking hand sanitizer can cause diarrhea, blindness, memory loss and damage to your internal organs.
Like most things in life their are consequences and drinking hand sanitizer is certainly no exception. Drinking can cause some serious damage to your body and the damage is not reversible.
A man in Australia once drank 6 bottles of hand sanitizer and survived.
There are a bunch of videos on YouTube of kids drinking it.
Similar to the videos of kids experimenting with legal highs there are also plenty of videos on YouTube which show kids drinking hand sanitizers.
You might kill someone if you drink it.
In Albuquerque, police officers found empty bottles of hand sanitizer and mouthwash next to a dead body.
Seriously, you’ll kill someone.
The Albuquerque Police Department is currently asking stores not to sell mouthwash and hand sanitizer to someone who appears to be drunk.
The problem of people drinking hand sanitizer is so serious in some areas that police are appealing for shops to not sell the combination of hand sanitizer and mouthwash to anyone who appears to be under the influence.
If parents buy hand sanitizer, they should purchase the foam version rather than the gel type because it is harder to extract the alcohol and teenagers may be less likely to drink it.
Nowadays parents are expected to lock away hygiene products just like they may lock away any alcohol in the house.
Experts say parents should not leave hand sanitizer around the house.
Parents are often reminded not to leave alcohol, medication and cigarettes around the house. It is now recommended that they do not leave mouthwash or hand sanitizer lying around either.
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