1: Subst Use Misuse. 2005;40(8):1035-50.
Dust in the wind: the growing use of embalming fluid among youth in Hartford,
CT.
Singer M, Clair S, Schensul J, Huebner C, Eiserman J, Pino R, Garcia J.
Hispanic Health Council, 175 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06106, USA.
[email protected]
This study suggests that use of embalming fluid as a mind-altering drug has been
underreported. Based on a social network recruitment strategy, findings from a
study in 2000 of 401 outreach worker-recruited polydrug-involved youth (ages
16-24 years) from the inner city of Hartford, CT indicate widespread (over 80%
of study participants had used the drug at least once) and regular use of
embalming fluid mixed with either marijuana or mint. This paper reports findings
on frequency and distribution of use, experience, and consequences of use,
access to the drug, and characteristics of embalming fluid users. Given the
toxic substances that comprise embalming fluid, and the tendency, affirmed in
the present study, of the drug to be associated with violent behavior, there is
a need to recognize embalming fluid as a drug of concern among youth.
PMID: 16040367 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2: Subst Use Misuse. 2005;40(4):563-71.
Beliefs and social norms about cigarettes or marijuana sticks laced with
embalming fluid and phencyclidine (PCP): why youth use "fry".
Peters RJ Jr, Kelder SH, Meshack A, Yacoubian GS Jr, McCrimmons D, Ellis A.
Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health,
University of Texas, Houston, USA.
[email protected]
Recent drug-use monitoring among Houston adolescents has detected a concoction
of cigarettes or marijuana sticks laced with embalming fluid and PCP ("fry"). To
shed light on this mixture, the current pilot study used a qualitative approach
to investigate relevant beliefs and norms associated with fry initiation and
perceived addiction among 38 youth who were attending outpatient and inpatient
drug-user treatment programs in the spring of 2003. Respondents perceived that
addiction to fry could occur as early as initial consumption, and the majority
of participants indicated that their second fry event occurred either the same
day as their initial use or the next day. In addition, fry use was perceived to
have extremely dangerous consequences. Youth stated that users have impaired
motor skills, hallucinations, long-term mental health problems, incoherent
behavior, paranoia, and aggressive behaviors. Implications for these results are
discussed.
PMID: 15830737 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: J Psychoactive Drugs. 2003 Jul-Sep;35(3):383-7.
Drug use among Texas alternative school students: findings from Houston's Safer
Choices 2 Program.
Peters RJ Jr, Tortolero SR, Addy RC, Markham C, Yacoubian GS Jr, Escobar-Chaves
LS.
Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research, School of Public Health,
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Self-report drug use data were collected from 494 alternative school students,
grades seven through 12, surveyed through the Safer Choices 2 study in Houston,
Texas. Data were collected between October 2000 and March 2001 via audio-enabled
laptop computers equipped with headphones. Twenty-eight percent of the sample
reported past-month marijuana use, and 10% reported past-month opiate/codeine
use. Males were almost twice as likely as females to have used cocaine during
the past month, and over four times as likely to have used opiates/codeine
during the past month. Students 16 years and older and were twice as likely to
have ever used cocaine and opiates/codeine than students under 16 years. Latinos
were 10 times more likely than Blacks to have ever used cocaine; Blacks were
twice as likely as Latinos to have used opiates/codeine during the past month.
Males were twice as likely as females to have tried "fry," a new street drug
made of tobacco or marijuana mixed with embalming fluid and PCP. These new drug
trends are startling because they indicate a potential for long-term treatment
services for abusers.
PMID: 14621137 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4: J Emerg Nurs. 2002 Oct;28(5):432-5.
Acute psychotic reactions: consider "dip dope" intoxication.
Mendyk SL, Fields DW.
Emergency Department, Jersey City Medical Center, NJ, USA.
[email protected]
Publication Types:
Case Reports
PMID: 12386625 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5: J Psychoactive Drugs. 1998 Apr-Jun;30(2):215-9.
Embalming fluid-soaked marijuana: new high or new guise for PCP?
Holland JA, Nelson L, Ravikumar PR, Elwood WN.
Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, Bellevue Hospital, and New York
University School of Medicine, New York 10016, USA.
A growing trend of smoking marijuana soaked in what is purported to be embalming
fluid has been reported in the literature since the mid-1980s. This article
describes several cases of intoxication, gives regional epidemiological data on
this phenomenon, and includes current nomenclature. The authors also analyze a
sample of fluid said to be embalming fluid and discover PCP (phencyclidine) and
multiple congeners and by-products of PCP manufacture. The implications of this
finding are discussed, and the hypothesis that most embalming fluid-soaked
marijuana likely contains PCP is considered.
Publication Types:
Case Reports
PMID: 9692385 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
