New, disturbing ways for teens to get wasted

Parents have long warned their teens about the dangers of whiskey and heroin. But what about hand sanitizer? Or incense? Or high-alcohol-content beverages sold on supermarket shelves next to sports drinks?

There is a disturbing pattern developing these days. Though it appears that young people are binge-drinking less and consuming fewer hard-core drugs than they did just a few years ago, they’re finding new –– and entirely unexpected ways –– to get buzzed.

The latest craze is hand sanitizer. Teens are becoming amateur chemists, using salt to separate the ethyl alcohol from the liquid soap and producing a concoction more powerful than a shot of vodka.

When teens aren’t getting drunk on sanitizers, they might be getting high on herbal incense coated with chemicals that mimic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Marketers package the incense in shiny foil envelopes under names like “Spice” and “K2” and peddle it at convenience stores. Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, says it’s nothing more than a synthetic form of marijuana that, when smoked, can cause heart attacks, kidney failure, even depression, and it should be banned. We agree, as does the state.

In March 2011, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency issued a temporary emergency order banning five chemicals found in the incense. Its marketers quickly responded by distributing it with a new set of chemicals.

That prompted the State Department of Health to ban synthetic marijuana entirely in March. But the health department’s edict does not carry criminal penalties for distributing and selling it, only fines. It’s up to county health departments to enforce the ban, and so far no one’s been fined. Only warnings have been issued, according to the state.

Because synthetic marijuana is not banned across the country, it’s easily carried across state lines to be sold here. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, has proposed a nationwide ban on the distribution and sale of synthetic marijuana. But the measure has been blocked by Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, who says drug bans should be implemented by state and local authorities, according to the Associated Press.