Kids Use Embalming Fluid as Drug

P H I L A D E L P H I A , July 27 -- A chemical used to preserve the dead isbecoming an increasingly popular drug for users looking for a newand different high, one which often comes with violent andpsychotic side effects, officials say.

The chemical is embalming fluid, and users — mainly teens andtwentysomethings — are buying tobacco or marijuana cigarettes thathave been soaked in it, then dried. They cost about $20 apiece andare called by nearly a dozen names nationwide, including "wet,""fry" and "illy."

"Some people around here think it's just a city problem butit's not," said Julie Kirlin, a juvenile probation officer inReading, about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia. "Whether theylive in a million-dollar house or a $5,000 house, kids who aresmoking pot or crack and are looking for a different type of highare turning to wet." The high that users experience depends on what they're reallygetting. Many users who want embalming fluid often get it withphenylcyclidine (PCP) mixed in. Embalming fluid is a compound offormaldehyde, methanol, ethanol and other solvents. "We test for heroin, cocaine and marijuana but not for this,"Kirlin said. "Numbers-wise, I think we're missing a whole lot." Adding to the confusion is that PCP has gone by the street name"embalming fluid" since the 1970s. "What they're getting is often PCP, but the idea of embalmingfluid appeals to people's morbid curiosity about death," said Dr.Julie Holland of New York University School of Medicine, who hasstudied drugs including wet. "There's a certain gothic appeal toit."

Drug Can Produce Euphoria, But Also Coma and Seizures

Twenty Houston-area users interviewed for a 1998 study by theTexas Commission on Drug Abuse said effects include visual andauditory hallucinations, euphoria, a feeling of invincibility,increased pain tolerance, anger, forgetfulness and paranoia.Stranger symptoms reported include an overwhelming desire todisrobe, and a strong distaste for meat.