Cash-stricken youths who cannot afford high-end drugs have found a new solution to get high from flavoured condoms.
West Bengal youths in India are reportedly boiling flavoured condoms and drinking the water as a stimulant drug.
This comes after flavoured condom sales skyrocketed in Durgapur, India leading to a widely reported shortage of condoms on shelves.
Local shopkeepers report that there are hardly any condoms on shelves lately as opposed to previous years when they would only sell three to four packets per day.
“Earlier, three to four packets of condoms were sold daily. And now packs of condoms are disappearing from a store,” a shopkeeper told the Vice.
Research led to the uncovering of the bizarre craze that youths were getting dangerously intoxicated for 10 to 12 hours after drinking boiled flavoured condom water, the local Indian papers report.
Indian local newspapers noted that condoms are usually boiled for a few hours before they are left to cool. However, some reports show that condoms are left to soak in cold water for six to eight hours before someone would drink the water.
Health experts have told iHarare that flavoured condoms contain aromatic compounds which break down to form alcohol once heated.
The compound is called polyurethane and is found in most plastic materials such as building insulation, car parts and adhesives.
This is the same compound found in dendrites glue which is normally sniffed for one to get intoxicated.
Like many other drugs, consuming flavoured condom water is not without health hazards.
Earlier this year, iHarare reported that Zimbabwean youths were now extracting liquid from used and disposed sanitary pads and baby diapers to supplement the shortage of drugs in the market. The liquid locally known as ‘Muto wemaPampers’ (Pampaerss Juice) is extracted by boiling sodium polyacrylate in sanitary pads and baby diapers. The drug is reportedly ingested or injected into one’s blood.
