Teens Get High on 'Digital Drugs'

Should we be concerned about 'i-dosing'?
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2010 5:45 PM CDT

The latest drug trend sweeping the nation has nothing to do with pharmaceuticals. Kids are getting high on MP3s, Wired reports, pointing to an Oklahoma News 9 report (at left) on the phenomenon known as “i-dosing.” Supposedly, just by putting on headphones and listening to music—which is really “a droning noise,” writes Ryan Singel—you can experience effects similar to those of marijuana, cocaine, opium, and peyote.

Officials are concerned i-dosing will act as a gateway drug to actual drugs, but Singel doesn’t seem too concerned: The most pressing issue is how to tell “if a teen with headphones on is i-dosing or just listening to Justin Bieber.” Annika Harris of The Frisky agrees: She listened to “Gates of Hades,” one of the free i-dosing tracks, “and the only feeling I felt was annoyance,” she writes.
(More i-dosing stories.)

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