Kids are Getting High On Hand Sanitizers

The best way to drink hand sanitizer is straight and down it “like a shot” explains Tyler a Grade 10 student who lives in Toronto. Undiluted, the alcohol-based liquid tastes a little like “vodka and bug spray” he adds.

These alarming comments as a growing reports of children downing these hand-cleaning products to get a “high”. The products contain between 60 and 90% alcohol which means that even small amounts can lead to alcohol poisoning in young children. This percentage is much higher than the strongest liquor drinks, giving kids a quick and easy way to get a high. One drama teacher said she discovered of eight and nine-year olds were drinking the hand-cleaner enticed by the promise of alcohol “right on the bottle”.

This kind of situation is creating a problem for schools, the liquid alcohol is the best defence against H1N1 and the containing of an epidemic, but with reports of children drinking it and even setting it alight schools have an interesting dilemma before them.

Some schools have started banning hand sanitizers, in Cape Breton it isn’t allowed in the classrooms and is distributed to children only when there isn’t any soap available. At Lee County in Florida, the school board initially banned the substance, but came back on its decision because of the threat of a possible pandemic. In Winnipeg, schools have been using non-alcohol-based sanitizers which are as effective, but more expensive.

Children find that the substance tastes foul and dries out the throat. And children are enticed by the “pretty bottles” to just gulp it down.

Sniffing the substance is also popular amongst kids, although online videos of kids sniffing it make it look painful, the sniffing might be more popular than suggested: Texas teen was recently accused of sniffing the stuff, but the charges where dropped because hand sanitize is not an abusive substance.

Kids aren’t always aware the health consequences will be, and sometimes just an adult telling them is wrong will be enough to make them stop.