New Trend Toward Abusing Hand Sanitizer for Alcohol Content Lands Some Teens In Hospital

person dispensing hand sanitizer

Yet another product off the grocery stores shelves has developed a new life as something to be abused to get high. Now, hand sanitizer joins glue, compressed air for cleaning computers, spray paint and other innocent products as an item that needs to be locked away.

In April 2012, a wide variety of news sources carried the story about a handful of teens in Southern California who arrived in emergency rooms over a period of weeks. These teens had taken advantage of the high alcohol content of the product and drank it to get high. But they got so drunk that they had to be monitored in the ER. Hospital and public health staff began to distribute information to the media to warn parents to watch their supply of hand sanitizer and to warn teens of the problems that could result.

For Some People, This Is Not Really News

While this problem may be news to emergency room staff and parents in Southern California, it’s long been known that an alcoholic who cannot get alcohol any other way may abuse all sorts of improbable substances to try to satisfy their cravings for a drink. Vanilla, cough syrup and mouthwash all contain alcohol and will attract a person desperate to subdue their cravings. Now hand sanitizer is added to the list.

Some professionals have stated that some teens separate out the alcohol from the gooey product, and some sources simply state that teens drink the product as it is. The sad truth is that until a person begins to gain some stability in the fight against addiction, any intoxicating substance may look so attractive that rationality may go right out the window. This is a person who needs a complete drug and alcohol-free environment in which they can focus on recovery.

For Freedom From any Drug, the Narconon Program Can Help

When a person wants to finally get off drugs or alcohol, the Narconon program can help them realize this goal. In this environment of recovery, an addicted person can find what he (or she) needs. There’s a positive attitude that each person there can overcome addiction. At Narconon centers, there’s no belief that addiction needs to last one’s whole life. The forty-five-year history of Narconon centers is filled with names of the people who have come in hopelessly addicted, weak and wasted, who complete this program and regain their physical health and mental clarity, even after many years of substance abuse.

Every Friday night at a Narconon center features a graduation where those who have completed one of the levels of the program or the entire program can tell the others what that accomplishment was like. It is touching to hear them tell the new arrivals how they can find lasting sobriety if they will just stick with it. To help each person lose the desire for drugs or alcohol, the drug Narconon program utilizes:

A detoxification action that enables each person to flush out old drug toxins, resulting in clearer thinking and lowered cravings

Life skills training that restores one’s ability to make drug-free choices in life

Innovative techniques for lifting the guilt and depression that accompany addiction

And counseling that helps brings back the brightness of life.

Whether this is your first experience with a rehabilitation program, or you have been through several programs without getting the result you want, you should find out how the Narconon program helps individuals overcome their addiction for good. Find out how this holistic rehabilitation program can help you find the sobriety you seek.


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AUTHOR
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Karen Hadley

For more than a decade, Karen has been researching and writing about drug trafficking, drug abuse, addiction and recovery. She has also studied and written about policy issues related to drug treatment.