It seems like every day we hear about some alarming new drug trend that makes us wonder if people will try literally anything to get high. Whether it’s attempting to smoke a substance with absolutely no recreational benefits or mixing rat poison into already deadly drugs, hardly anything is surprising anymore. One claim that’s been making the rounds is that people are inhaling or otherwise misusing bug spray in order to get high. In March of 2018, the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper with a reputation for – to put it politely – stretching the truth, reported a surge in the number of people reporting that they’d used bug spray to get high. While there have been a few isolated cases, it’s by no means becoming an epidemic.
One incident took place in July 2017, in Monroe County Mississippi. The Sheriff’s Department reported that a person had combined methamphetamine with crystals produced by spraying Raid “Hot Shots” on an electrified screen, and then injected that substance into his veins. As an aside, there’s also a rumor that meth can be produced using chicken wire, a car battery, and RAID. The story is that you can attach the chicken wire to the battery to make a current, put tin foil under it, then spray the chicken wire with the bug spray, and after a while it will crystallize. Supposedly, you then disconnect the battery and beat the chicken wire, so the crystals fall onto the tin foil. You scoop up the crystals and – voila – meth. Fortunately, meth making isn’t quite that simple.
Another bug spray related incident happened in January 2018 in Tennessee. A man entered a stranger’s home, cut his own throat, jumped out of a second story window, and chased the family that lived in the house down the street, during which time he became hung on barbed wire. He stripped naked and was eventually found by police hiding in a tree, at which point he began throwing his fecal matter at them. According to early reports, he had used a drug called wasp spray dope, where crystalized wasp spray is mixed with meth. However, officials were unable to confirm that he had even consumed the spray.
The final incident, also from January 2018, happened at an Indianapolis men’s shelter called Wheeler Mission. 17 people there overdosed over the course of two days, on what was suspected to be bath salts laced with another drug. One emergency responder spoke to a local paper and claimed that the drugs had been laced with bug spray, but it turned out that this information was gathered from people in the people and no actual testing was done to determine whether or not bug spray was present.
If you or a loved one need help with quitting drugs or alcohol, consider Asana Recovery. We offer medical detox, along with both residential and outpatient programs, and you’ll be supervised by a highly trained staff of medical professionals, counselors, and therapists. Call us any time at (949) 438-4504 to get started.
