Hand Sanitizer Used By Teens To Get Drunk

Hand Sanitizer Used By
Teens To Get Drunk
On KTLA.com

I saw this report on one of the latest fads among teens.  Teenage kids are now using hand sanitizer to get drunk.  Apparently the amount of alcohol is significant enough for them to consume the sanitizer straight from the bottle or separate it out from the other ingredients.  In fact, the level of alcohol is so high that these teens are showing up in emergency room with alcohol poisoning.

While I applaud the health officials calling a press conference to alert parents to this behavior, it seemed from the video report I saw online, that the main emphasis was to keep hand sanitizer out of the reach of your children, or buy the foam products because they are more difficult to separate the ingredients out.  I want to say congratulations for sharing these tips with parents, but on the other hand it looks like everyone is missing the bigger picture.

In my view, if a child craves alcohol that much, then there is a bigger issue at stake.  One might ask the question as to what is going on at home and if alcohol is being consumed in large quantities by the parents while in front of the teens?  In addition to this, it might seem obvious to ask what else is going on in the kid's life that is causing so much stress and disconnection from life, to have a desire to do this.  There is something there that is at the root of the problem, but it appears we are throwing a band-aid on the problem while the adults continue to live with their heads hidden in the sand.