Expert Warns About Dangers Of Smoking Alcohol

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It's called the latest smoking trend online.

Only it involves alcohol rather than tobacco.

Those who smoke alcohol claim they can get a quick alcohol buzz without the calories.

The Internet is filled with people who claim they’ve invented a way to smoke alcohol vapors and get drunk without every taking a sip.

But the head of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital warns this fad is full of problems.

“You can binge drink to the point of unconsciousness easier,” said Henry Spiller of the poison center.

He says unlike drinking alcohol, which is first absorbed in the stomach, smoking alcohol creates a quicker high.

“In this method, you absorb it very rapidly –seconds -- because it goes directly into the lungs into the bloodstream,” said Spiller.

While alcohol vaporizers may be popular online, they're illegal in Ohio.

While the makers of the vaporizers claim you can smoke without the calories of alcohol, doctors say that's just not true.

“There's always calories; that's the first myth you can explode,” Spiller said.

Of greater concern, he says is the issue of fire.

And for people who think smoking alcohol will trick a breathalyzer into thinking they are sober, Spiller says think again.
“You will be drunk, and whether they give you a breathalyzer, take a blood alcohol (sample). You will be drunk,” Spiller said.

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