Tuesday, November 1st 2011, 11:48 pm
Lori Fullbright, News On 6
TULSA, Oklahoma -- Veteran police officers are shocked by the new things kids are doing to get away with underage drinking. Now Oklahoma's alcohol watch-dogs are sharing the secrets kids already know.
"Looks like hairspray, but it's actually liquor infused whip cream. Looks like a small energy drink, but it's actually champagne in a can with a straw attached. Looks like a metal water bottle, but it's actually vodka. It's packaged and sold this way at liquor stores," Erik Smoot told an audience of police officers, dorm moms and school administrators.
Erik says the first line of defense is to know what you can buy in any liquor store in Oklahoma. He says packaging can be deceiving.
Pocket shots can be concealed at school, poured into a soda and the package is flushable. Small frost shots are popsicles with 10 percent alcohol in it.
"I don't know many adults who want to get their alcohol from a popsicle," Eric said.
Erik says officers need to know about these new packages when they make car stops, and parents need to know it may not be perfume sitting on a dresser, but liquor with 15 percent alcohol.
"Hey, if you take the lid off, it's a shot glass. No adult knows that, but the youth know," Erik said.
It's not just the packaging, he says kids are soaking gummy bears in vodka, and then take them in a baggie to school or football game.
"It sits in your stomach because it's a gel, not a liquid and when you don't feel a buzz, you eat more of them and more of them and when they finally begin to break down, you're way more intoxicated than you should've been," he said.
He says kids are going to the worse extremes too.
"They're taking tampons soaking them in vodka and inserting them," Erik said.
He says that can lead to alcohol poisoning because it goes straight into the bloodstream and even after they pass out, they're still getting alcohol into their system.
Oklahoma's alcoholic beverage laws enforcement commission asked us to share this story. They say kids already know the trends; it's the adults who need to be made aware.
They say kids believe many of these alternative ways of getting alcohol will not show up in a breathalyzer test, but once alcohol is in the bloodstream, it's in the lungs.
November 1st, 2011
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