Some youngsters in Indonesia were recently found to have been using sanitary pads as a cheaper alternative to drugs and alcohol.
Teens from different parts of the country have reportedly been able to get intoxicated and high by boiling used sanitary pads and drinking the water.
Several Indonesian youths from Jakarta, Bekasi in West Java and Kudus in Central Java, age 13-16 years old, were arrested by authorities after being caught experimenting with the unusual method, reports the Straits Times.
According to National Narcotics Agency Central Java chapter head Senior Commander Suprinarto, the chlorine produced by the boiled mixture induces hallucinations and created a sensation of “flying” similarly experienced when using some form of drugs.
“The used pads they took from the trash were put in boiling water. After it cooled down, they drank it together,” Suprinarto was quoted as saying.
An advocate for safe drinking named Jimy Ginting told The Jakarta Post that the practice was first exposed in 2016 after some teenagers in Belitung, Bangka Belitung Islands and Karawang, West Java were discovered to be doing the same.
“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,” Ginting noted.
Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons / Jonathan McIntosh (CC BY 2.0)
