I’m old, but I’m not dead yet.
Then again, maybe I ought to be considering all of the double dog dares I chose to take on as a child.
Of course, eating dirt, paper plates, napkins and TP’ing Mrs. McDaniel’s house is nothing compared to what teens these days are doing to prove to their peers that they are cool like that.
When I first heard about teens drinking hand sanitizer in order to score a cheap buzz, I thought the cases were isolated. However, since the Los Angeles Times went public with its investigation into the new trend of chugging hand sanitizer to absorb its 62 percent of ethyl alcohol (or about 120 proof), an alarming number of young bonehead lemmings have been reportedly following suit.
NPR recently published a report revealing that some teens are now using salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer.
Yes, you read correctly: Thousands of high school students–some of whom you may know personally–are reportedly spending their days Googling distillation instructions in order to transform the popular anti-bacterial product into a potent drink similar to a shot of hard liquor.
Hand.
Sanitizer.
The very generation we are leaving the future of the world to, is quaffing hand sanitizer.
Let that sink in for a bit.
Do you know what hand sanitizer tastes like?
Most sane individuals don’t, and will never.
Then, you’ve got these select adolescents turning to cinnamon, cough syrup, mouthwash, vanilla extract, and now hand sanitizer, in order to escape reality without worrying about being carded.
Their harebrained move was spoofed on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show a few weeks ago. The comedian did hand sanitizer shots with actor John Cusack.
“I feel cleaner inside,” Kimmel said to his high profile guest. “And I also feel like I’m going to die.”
According to doctors, no one has died from ingesting hand sanitizer—-yet. Still, be aware that ethyl alcohol is toxic, and if your teen lacks stellar judgment, then perhaps you should start buying foam hand sanitizer.