newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

It’s a cheap and easy high for some teenagers.

Drinking hand sanitizer is the latest fad among young and reckless thrill seekers looking for a quick high because it contains more than half ethyl alcohol.

Most liquid sanitizers contain 62 percent ethanol or 120 proof liquid some young people have been using to get inebriated.

The Los Angeles Times reports at least 16 teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer.

A search on the internet outlines how salt separates alcohol from the sanitizer, making it a potent drink similar to a shot of hard liquor.

Rather than just drinking it outright, some young people, law enforcement officials say, appear to be using salt to purify the alcohol content to make it even more potent, using a technique learned from the popular video site, YouTube.

When salt is added to hand sanitizer, it turns to a liquid that leaves behind tiny glycerol particles which can be separated through a coffee filter.

This home-made distillation process leaves behind a more concentrated solution and easy to consume cocktail.

Medical experts are warning parents about this fairly innocuous household substance that is rapidly becoming a potentially dangerous habit to young people.

Hand sanitizer is just about everywhere.

It’s in gyms, supermarkets, local businesses and doctor’s offices where users spread it liberally every day in an effort to keep themselves bacteria-free.

Authorities say parents should monitor the hand sanitizer like they would their liquor or prescription cabinets, keeping it out of reach when no one is using it.

Cyrus Rangan, MD, a medical toxicology consultant for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles says the pattern of abuse of hand sanitizer is similar to what he has seen over the years with products like Listerine and Robitussin.

“Teens may ingest hand sanitizer recreationally, and one or two swallows could get a child visibly drunk. The larger the bottle, the greater the potential for poisoning.”

Methods to distill it can be found through friends and the internet, but straight ingestion of the product without distillation is also common,” he says, adding that the containers especially pose risks to younger children because the bottles are not outfitted with child-resistant caps.

“A young child can get into hand sanitizer rather easily, and come into a hospital with alcohol intoxication,” says Dr. Rangan according to a Children's Hospital statement.

Medical experts suggest parents buy foam-based hand sanitizers rather ethanol-based antimicrobial cleansers to avoid potential consumption.