Students in West Bengal get addicted to flavoured condoms to get 'high'

With this, condoms join the list of easily available items which are unlikely candidates of substance abuse such as drinking cough syrup, hand sanitiser, aftershave, sniffing glue, paint, nail polish, whiteners and even eating Iodex on bread.

Students in West Bengal's Durgapur have become addicted to using condoms but not as a contraceptive. They have been soaking it in hot water and drinking the liquid. The result--a high that lasts for 10 to 12 hours.

According to  a report in News 18, the sale of flavored condoms has drastically increased in various parts of Durgapur including Durgapur City Center, Bidhannagar, Benachiti, and Muchipara, C Zone, A Zone and on questioning a regular customer, a shopkeeper discovered the reason for the spike.

Shopkeepers of a medical shop in Durgapur told News 18, “Earlier three to four packets of condoms were sold per shop per day. And now a pack of condoms are disappearing from a store.”

“Soaking condoms in hot water for a long time breaks down large organic molecules and creates alcohol compounds. This compound is keeping the youth intoxicated," said Durgapur RE College Model School chemistry teacher Nurul Haque.

Superintendent Dhiman Mandal of Durgapur sub-district hospital, told Banglahunt, “There is some kind of aromatic compound in the condom. Alcohol is produced by breaking it down. This aromatic compound is also found in dendrites. So many are seen to be intoxicated with dendrites.”

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With this, condoms join the list of easily available items which are unlikely candidates of substance abuse such as drinking cough syrup, hand sanitiser, aftershave, sniffing glue, paint, nail polish, whiteners and even eating Iodex on bread.

While the West Bengal police is yet to comment on the matter, in Hyderabad, police recently said they cannot book substance abusers as the Indian Penal Code does not have a law to address this.

The police also said that products such as whiteners and cough syrups have a low count of sedatives and do not come under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Act (NDPS).

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