Concerned parents, schools blame YouTube for ‘snorting Smarties’ trend
As anyone who has snorted something can tell you, it isn’t exactly the most fun route of administration for drug use. So, it goes to follow that it’d be an even worse way to get candy into your body. But try telling that to the nation’s middle school students.
As anyone who has snorted something can tell you, it isn't exactly the most fun route of administration for drug use. So, it goes to follow that it'd be an even worse way to get candy into your body. But try telling that to the nation's middle school students.
The hot new trend for kids now is (apparently) crushing Smarties—the fruit flavored tablet candy of your own childhood—and putting the sugary treat the one place it definitely doesn't belong: their nasal cavities. Not exactly the best way to get the most from your purchase.
And, what's worse, all that sugar snorting could lead to complications that are on par with abusing the real thing. Or, at least the consequences are more gross, with at least one Rhode Island school warning parents that maggots could grow inside their kids' nasal passages as a result of stuffing sugar up there.
And that's in addition to other issues like lung irritation, allergic reactions, infections, and nasal scarring. So why would kids want to do this despite all the damage it can cause? Blame the YouTube.
A search for "snorting Smarties" returns about 1,300 results, every one of which deals with sniffing the classic candy up one's nose in its powdered form. The same Rhode Island school mentioned above calls the trend a "widespread phenomenon" due to the availability of the videos.
But, of course, the takeaway from the whole situation is this: Kids will do stupid stuff. Just don't let them walk on by if you happen to catch them with a mirror and a pack of candy—Smarties or not.
You never know when they're going to move on to the hard stuff.
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[Metro]