It's not what any parent would want their teenager doing at any time, much less in the middle of school.
"YouTube, unfortunately, has a how-to video on just about everything, and kids are mimicking adult behavior," says Kimberly Burke, the Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator for the Northside Independent School District.
On another YouTube video, a teenager in class is screaming, "it burns dude," after inhaling beer salt, which is a salt and lime flavored condiment you can add to a bottle of brew.
In one particular video found at "I am bored dot com," a young girl is shown crushing the Smarties and making what appear to be cocaine lines on a school desk. She then laughs and says, "I feel like I'm doing drugs in the middle of class."
"It's going straight to your blood stream, into the membranes of your nose, and can settle in the lining of your lungs, cause infection, sinus infections. Kids don't understand that. They are trying to be cool," Burke says.
"I just kept saying what, why, why, why? I never heard of it. It scared me," says one Northside School District parent who contacted KENS 5 to ask what we knew about this type of activity. She was very troubled by it.
The parent asked not to be identified, but she recently found out from her child's counselor that he had been snorting beer salts with friends at school.
"When I heard that he had tried this, it just shocked me because I didn't think my son would do that."
But drug prevention counselors say if it's on YouTube, kids will find it and copy the behavior.
Burke adds that snorting beer salts and Smarties is a trend seen in teens across the country. She says it's not that common in the Northside School District, and it doesn't get kids high, but parents should be aware because the behavior can lead to real drug abuse down the road.
"[Once] they figure out they can't get high from Smarties, they might be looking for the next thing they can use, whether it be cigarettes, prescription drugs. Is it gonna be inhalants?" Burke says.
"Nobody got angry. It was an educational experience for us, because I had never heard about it. Hopefully when that situation occurs again, he will know how to say no."
"Kids don't understand. They are looking for acceptance of their peer group. They don't understand the ramifications of the behavior they are engaging in'" Burke says.
View video clips:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=39584
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpzCbt-QUfA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ezDw_zVPSw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A4gKHSffEI
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=3717
