Forgive me if your reading this while eating or sipping your favorite booze because things are about to get really disgusting! And if you're the squeamish type, you might want to close your computer and never come near the Internet again after reading this article.
The newest teens craze is here, and it's way worse than eating Tide Pods. People have surely outdone themselves in the "why are you so gross?" department.
For some bizarre reasons, teenagers are drinking boiled water from used tampons to get high off of the chemicals inside of them.
Did you just throw up in your mouth a little? And we thought the Tide Pods challenge was crazy! Nope, this is bonkers.
Teenagers in Indonesia have been boiling tampons and menstrual pads and drinking the water
This isn't a sick joke. According to authorities, police have arrested several teenagers caught making this menstrual-pad moonshine.
Even worse, most of the time, these teens collect used tampons from the trash, so someone else's blood is on them. Eww!
According to reports, they're drinking the water from used tampons to get high
Actually, it's the gel inside the pads that gets the teenagers high. The chlorine in these tampons makes a potent mixture that can induce a feeling of "flying" and "hallucinations," like drugs do.
One teenager, who admitted to drinking the concoction in the "morning, afternoon and evening," described the liquid as "bitter," Daily Mail reported.
This new fad has been going on since 2016 in Indonesia
Jimy Ginting, an advocate for safe drinking, told The Jakarta Post:
"I don't know who started it all, but I knew it started around two years ago. There is no law against it so far. There is no law against these kids using a mixture of mosquito repellent and [cold syrup] to get drunk."
Indonesia's strict drug laws may perhaps be the reason that led teens to resort to the strange way of getting high to avoid traditionally illegal drugs. Those found with "modest quantities" of illicit drugs can even find themselves facing the death penalty.
If you're confused on how tampon water can get you high, you aren't alone
Julie Weber, the director of the Missouri Poison Center, told Teen Vogue:
"There is no toxicologic basis that this can cause a wanted high."
So, whether you could get high off of boiled menstrual pads is a matter of some debate.
It might be easy to laugh at how ridiculous this new trend sounds, but it's hazardous and shouldn't be attempted under any circumstance.