While teens are not permitted to purchase alcohol, they do have the ability to purchase hand sanitizers. These antibacterial liquids have very high alcoholic content, which is why they are so effective at killing germs. Many people have small vials of the alcohol ready so that when they go to the gas station and touch a germ-covered gas pump or go shopping in a store where lots of people have been placing their hands on products, they are ready to rid their hands of germs right away. Now, teens are realizing that there is another use for hand sanitizer, and this is an illegal one. Recently teens all across America have been caught guzzling the antibacterial hand liquids in order to get drunk. In Los Angeles alone, at least six teenagers have wound up in emergency room sin recent months after imbibing hand sanitizer in an attempt to get drunk.

Hand sanitizers contain an ethyl alcohol that is fermented from corn or is created synthetically. The hand sanitizer normally contains up to 62 percent ethyl alcohol, and one drink can be as high as 120 proof. A single shot of hard liquor is normally only about 80 proof. Online, teens have started posting videos as to how you can separate the alcohol in hand sanitizer from the other ingredients using salt. Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a director of toxicology for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles says that there is no question that drinking the hand sanitizer is extremely dangers. Only a few swallows can bring on a drunk teenager. While there have only been a handful of cases in the Los Angeles area, all teens complain of the same burning sensation and slurred speech. Rangan and other toxicology correspondents are concerned that the practice may become a nationwide problem as teens discover that they can get drunk on such a cheap and easily available method.

Doctors have recommended that parents start purchasing foam hand sanitizers, rather than gel ones. This is because it is harder for teens to extract the alcohol from a foam sanitizer and may be discouraged from ingesting the product as a result. Nationally, the AAPCC has received 203 calls of teens being exposed to unhealthy levels from hand sanitizer. 70 percent of those calls involved a person who ingested the sanitizer orally. Dr. Robert J, Geller, a medical toxicologist, says that some of the products are so strong that 2 ounces of hand sanitizer equals about 3-ounces of 80-proof vodka. Many schools are removing their gel hand sanitizers from classrooms and other accessible locations in order to discourage teens from drinking the product.

In addition to the dangers of merely consuming the hand sanitizer, this new trend brings in a heightened threat for driving while intoxicated. In Connecticut this month, a woman was pulled over and charged with driving under the influence even though she claimed that she had not had an alcoholic beverage in the recent past. The police tested her BAC on a breathalyzer and discovered that the suspect had a BAC of 0.17 percent. That is well over the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The 36-year-old eventually admitted that she drank half a bottle of hand sanitizer before she left the house earlier that morning. The ER doctors who treated her after her arrest discovered that the woman had drunk the equivalent to 32 shots of vodka. With this dangerous trend on the rise, it may heighten the amount of DUIs, especially among teens. Contact a DUI attorney today if you have been arrested for driving under the influence and need representation in court!