Children as young as 14 have been detained as the police in Indonesia crack down on the latest trend where teenagers boil used sanitary pads and diapers before drinking the resulting liquid to get high.
According to the Jakarta post, young Indonesians are using the inexpensive method of boiling used pads and diapers before drinking the resulting “bitter” liquid to get high. The strange practice is so popular that users reportedly consume this boiled liquid thrice a day.
The Indonesian Ministry of Health is investigating after police in Jakarta, Bekasi and Kudus arrested several teen users. National Narcotics Agency’s Central Java chapter head Suprinarto told local publication Kompas that the “chlorine in the boiled mixture that created a feeling of “flying” and hallucinations similar to the sensation experienced when taking certain drugs.”
He further revealed that these teens use pads they retrieve from the trash to make their concoction: “The used pads they took from the trash were put in boiling water. After it cooled down, they drank it together.”
Another source, safe drinking advocate Jimy Ginting, told the Jakarta Post that this phenomenon has been prevalent in Indonesia for the past two years. He added that there are no laws against making and consuming such a mixture or getting high off of a concoction of mosquito repellent and cold syrup that others use:
“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.”