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| Is The Tide Pod “The New Suicide Pill" for Teens? |
By Robert W. Armijo
Shortly after parents around
the country realized that their teen aged children were videotaping themselves
putting the colorful cleaning chemical balls into their mouths (a practice commonly known as the Tide Pod Challenge) and then popping
them like a zit (posting the footage to the web), mainstream media put various
medical experts on camera to denounce the behavior as reckless, foolish and potentially life-threatening.
Now, as a result of that health
warning, the rate of suicide by Tide pods among teens went from absolute zero
to now becoming the preferred method of doing oneself in.
Further complicating the
matter, as reported by suicide prevention hotlines around the nation, is the
number callers who used a Tide pod to end their life, but changed their mind,
is their inability to speak shortly after ingesting the lethal sphere and
making a call to a suicide prevention hotline.
“We know it’s an attempted
suicide by a Tide pod because the caller just chokes and gags on the other end
of the phone,” said one volunteer operator.
“That and the sound of soap bubbles popping in the background.”
All suicide prevention centers
have been instructed to redirect the self-endangered callers to another outside
agency for help.
“It’s all we can do for
them,” the operator continued. “After all, we are a suicide prevention center,
not the poison control center.”
Photo(s) Courtesy of:
Copyright© 2018 by Robert W.
Armijo. All rights reserved.
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