Teens are Reportedly Boiling Used Tampons to Get High
Let me start off by apologizing, because things are about to get really disgusting. The newest teen fad is here, and it's way worse than eating Tide Pods. Some teens are boiling used tampons in water and drinking the resulting concoction in order to get high.
Unfortunately, this isn't a joke. Police all around Indonesia have arrested multiple teens caught using the sanitary devices in order to get high, according to Straits Times.
It gets worse (if that's even possible). Most of the time, these used pads are taken from the trash, meaning they're drinking a stranger's menstrual blood! It's actually not the blood, but the gel inside the pads and tampons that get the teens high. They prefer to use unused products when they can (obviously), but when they grow desperate, they have to resort to taking used sanitary devices out of the garbage.
But what is it inside these sanitary products that’s actually getting teens high? To be honest, no one knows for sure. Since tampons and pads are regulated and approved as medical devices by the Food and Drug Administration, manufacturers are not required to fully disclose what goes into them. Companies have recently begun sharing more information about their materials thanks to activists who are pushing for full transparency. I mean: Don’t you want to know what you’re putting inside your body?
One teen who admitted to drinking the concoction, "morning, afternoon and evening," described the liquid as "bitter." According to the Indonesian National Drug Agency (BNN), drinking the mixture results in feelings of "'flying' and hallucinations."
Indonesia's extremely strict drug laws may be what led teens to resort to these strange ways of getting high while avoiding traditionally illegal drugs. Those caught with "modest quantities" of drugs can find themselves facing the death penalty.
"The materials they're using are legal, but they're not being used in a way that's intended, so it ends up being used like a drug," said Senior Commander Suprinatro head of the BNN in Central Java, Indonesia.
Commander Suprinarto explained the process that the teens take in making the concoction. "They used pads they took from the trash were put in boiling water," he said. "After it cooled down, they drank it together."
It's easy to laugh at how ridiculous this all sounds, but in reality, it's extremely dangerous. We still don't know the effects that drinking boiled tampons has on teens, but it's safe to say that it can't be good and should not be attempted.
Carolyn Twersky is the Editorial Fellow at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
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