In a word, Jenkem. The newest underground street drug sensation that's hitting the teenage nation. That's because an officer in Collier County in Naples, Fla. just issued a bulletin that several high school students are tripping out on a euphoric high. This shouldn't cause too much surprise, of course... unless you notice the drug's ingredients are human excrement and urine (pictured above).Yes, apparently the primary ingredient, among other equally disturbing putridity, is "raw sewage." Word of the drug caught parent's attention, says the bulletin, "through several conversations with students at Palmetto Ridge High."
The drug is harvested inside a makeshift container until the bubbling waste ferments as a gas inside a latex balloon attached to the bottle's mouth, according to a Washington Post column. Once the balloon has completely filled, the gas is inhaled until the, ahem, Jenkem-user scores a hallucinogenic high. And the gas in question? Why, it's methane- the gas compound produced after breaking wind. (Geez, I've heard of fart-sniffers, but this is ridiculous.)
In South Bend, Ind., St. Joseph Regional Medical Center ER physician Dr. Tom Sweeny says that other than the "sense of euphoria and a heightened sense of awareness," immediate symptoms "are lower blood pressure, a decreased heart rate and lowering respiratory drive." Hallucinogen users - including the ones that huff Jenkem, are even liable to stop breathing altogether, according to the WSBT article.
Even the Drug Enforcement Administration has a difficult time categorizing its narcotic status. Adds Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Garrison Courtney in a FOX News story:"We wouldn't classify it as a drug so much because it's feces and urine. You've pretty much hit the bottom of the barrel if you're experimenting with this."
However, although Jenkem use has African origins - children in impoverished third-world countries like Zambia used it to achieve a cheap high - not a single case has actually been documented in the United States. In fact, even the Collier County bulletin turns out to be an elaborate hoax - the two pictures above were snapped by an Internet user aliased "Pickwick". His or her concoction? Merely "flour, beer, water and Nutella," says an article from an Australian NBC TV affiliate. To wit, no human waste.Meanwhile, the ever-reliable rumor-debunker Web site Snopes.com has classified the status of Jenkem as "False," citing the lack of documented American cases. Which isn't to say it doesn't exist at all - from a 1999 BBC News Brief on Snopes:
"At the Lusaka sewage ponds, two teenage boys plunge their hands into the dark brown sludge, gathering up fistfuls and stuffing it into small plastic bottles ... They are manufacturing "Jenkem", a disgusting, noxious mixture made from fermented sewage. It is cheap, potent and very popular among the thousands of street-children in Lusaka. When they cannot afford glue or are too scared to steal petrol, these youngsters turn to Jenkem as a way of getting high."
See, the news circulating around Collier County of a new hallucinogenic was enough to scare local law enforcement into issuing a bulletin, which caused a stink around the 'net throughout October.Yet Jenkem does exist abroad, just not here - yet.
Still, could you just imagine what Robocop would say in an anti-drug PSA if Jenkem were to ever hit American streets?
You tell 'em, Murphy.
Images Courtesy Washington Post, WSBT.com
2 comments:
what?
"What" indeed.
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