A new device that allows users to vaporize alcohol to exponentially increase its effects has parents everywhere concerned.
The $35 Vaportini was released in December, and it vaporizes alcohol which is then inhaled through a straw, sending alcohol vapors directly to the lungs.
This sends and instantaneous and intensified alcohol effect, getting users drunk very quickly, as it bypasses the digestive system and goes directly into the bloodstream.
“It is ill advised for experimentation,” said Dr. Thomas Greenfield, Center Director at the National Alcohol Research Center in Emeryville, California.
“There could be inexperienced people at parties under peer pressure who may find themselves using this method of alcohol consumption.
“It might not be possible to self-regulate their consumption and teenagers just like adults can be drunk drivers too.”
Laboratory rats have been known to become severely addicted to alcohol through inhalation, so Dr. Greenfield highly recommends against it.
“To my knowledge there have been no human studies on the effects inhaling alcohol,” said Dr. Greenfield.
“Certainly in lab rats they have experimented with vapor chambers and the animals experimented upon have high levels of intoxication and addiction.”
Teens are especially at risk when it comes to the new device, because of the intrigue of its instantaneous effects.
“In early adolescence, the brain is not as formed and too much alcohol risks affecting its formation,” explained Dr. Greenfield.
If you need to go above and beyond drinking to get a buzz from alcohol, you probably shouldn’t be consuming alcohol in any form.
James Gilbert | Elite.
