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CNN Live Sunday

Drugs Dipped in Embalming Fluid Become Popular With Nation's Youth

Aired November 10, 2002 - 18:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kids are looking for a dangerous new high these days, apparently dipping marijuana, tobacco, or something else in what they think is embalming fluid. It sounds hard to believe but it is true. This new street drug can cause obviously serious problems. CNN's Serena Altschul details tonight on "CNN PRESENTS" and she is here now with a preview. Hey, Serena.
SERENA ALTSCHUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson, thanks for having me on.

COOPER: So what are we going to see tonight? What do you we know about this drug?

ALTSCHUL: Well, what's interesting is that when we first started looking into it, we started hearing all of the street names, illy, wet, fry, dust, sharm (ph), all of these seemingly sort of not threatening names. But, it turns out that emergency room visits are up 80 percent nationwide just due to PCP related admissions just over a three-year period. So, you know, we though this was a good topic to look into.

It seems to be rising in certain areas, certain cities around the country, and in this hour we'll talk to users, some kids who are in rehab trying to get out, and dealers, doctors, and I think we have a clip right now that has some man coming in to the emergency room and also some of the users. So, let's take a look at the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALTSCHUL: I mean you see people like this come in a lot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, all the time. This is very typical behavior.

ALTSCHUL: Did anybody ask him if he's been (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I did but he's not...

ALTSCHUL: Wow, he's really showing. I guess she just give him a shot. This emergency room in New Haven, Connecticut, sees an average of 10 illy patients a week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, people I find that come out with new, improved forms of products no matter what they are and the same is true in the drug trade. And so, somebody came up with a new method of packaging PCP. They dissolved it in formaldehyde or embalming fluid, and I'm not sure how they got the idea, but when you heat up the embalming fluid, it gives off a pretty pleasant odor. So, when you're using it, there's a pleasant odor to it.

ALTSCHUL: How does it make you feel when he smoke it? How is it different from weed like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your body starts to get numb.

ALTSCHUL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's that numbness of your body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Starting to feel good now.

ALTSCHUL: Kenny and Jean are roommates at a rehab program called New Choices, just outside of New Haven. One of their drugs of choice was illy. When did you first try it? When was your first illy experience?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beginning of ninth grade.

ALTSCHUL: How old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fourteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kids younger than my age come in to me buying it, kids ten, 11, 12, kids my age doing it, and I'm like whoa, this is getting out of control.

ALTSCHUL: You went to school while you were on it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was stupid but at school, it was terrible. I just got confused, didn't know what to do. I like went to the bus stop and I wasn't sure if the bus came already, wasn't sure if it was a school day, wasn't sure if it was Saturday, wasn't sure if it was Noon. I didn't know anything. It scared me a little bit, so I didn't do that anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something like five percent of illy users will develop a persistent state that's similar to schizophrenia.

ALTSCHUL: Paranoid schizophrenia, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.

ALTSCHUL: Sort of a permanent state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It becomes a permanent state and that can happen after even just a couple uses. So, for a lot of reasons it's a bad drug.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALTSCHUL: So, as you can see that was inside the emergency room and you know, the thing it really stands out for me as we did the investigation is just that these dealers are so smart. They're really targeting young people who don't know often that it has PCP in it, so they'll say you know this is just mint leaves or this is marijuana dipped in something with an extra kick, and they just don't know. Some do know but a lot don't and that really, that was what I really wanted to get across in the hour too.

COOPER: All right, Serena it's an amazing report. I've seen large excerpts from it and I really look forward to watching the whole thing tonight.

ALTSCHUL: Thanks a lot.

COOPER: I appreciate you being with us.

ALTSCHUL: Thank you.

COOPER: All right, see you later.

ALTSCHUL: OK, bye bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Nation's Youth>


Aired November 10, 2002 - 18:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kids are looking for a dangerous new high these days, apparently dipping marijuana, tobacco, or something else in what they think is embalming fluid. It sounds hard to believe but it is true. This new street drug can cause obviously serious problems. CNN's Serena Altschul details tonight on "CNN PRESENTS" and she is here now with a preview. Hey, Serena.
SERENA ALTSCHUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Anderson, thanks for having me on.

COOPER: So what are we going to see tonight? What do you we know about this drug?

ALTSCHUL: Well, what's interesting is that when we first started looking into it, we started hearing all of the street names, illy, wet, fry, dust, sharm (ph), all of these seemingly sort of not threatening names. But, it turns out that emergency room visits are up 80 percent nationwide just due to PCP related admissions just over a three-year period. So, you know, we though this was a good topic to look into.

It seems to be rising in certain areas, certain cities around the country, and in this hour we'll talk to users, some kids who are in rehab trying to get out, and dealers, doctors, and I think we have a clip right now that has some man coming in to the emergency room and also some of the users. So, let's take a look at the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALTSCHUL: I mean you see people like this come in a lot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, all the time. This is very typical behavior.

ALTSCHUL: Did anybody ask him if he's been (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I did but he's not...

ALTSCHUL: Wow, he's really showing. I guess she just give him a shot. This emergency room in New Haven, Connecticut, sees an average of 10 illy patients a week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, people I find that come out with new, improved forms of products no matter what they are and the same is true in the drug trade. And so, somebody came up with a new method of packaging PCP. They dissolved it in formaldehyde or embalming fluid, and I'm not sure how they got the idea, but when you heat up the embalming fluid, it gives off a pretty pleasant odor. So, when you're using it, there's a pleasant odor to it.

ALTSCHUL: How does it make you feel when he smoke it? How is it different from weed like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your body starts to get numb.

ALTSCHUL: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's that numbness of your body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Starting to feel good now.

ALTSCHUL: Kenny and Jean are roommates at a rehab program called New Choices, just outside of New Haven. One of their drugs of choice was illy. When did you first try it? When was your first illy experience?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beginning of ninth grade.

ALTSCHUL: How old?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fourteen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The kids younger than my age come in to me buying it, kids ten, 11, 12, kids my age doing it, and I'm like whoa, this is getting out of control.

ALTSCHUL: You went to school while you were on it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was stupid but at school, it was terrible. I just got confused, didn't know what to do. I like went to the bus stop and I wasn't sure if the bus came already, wasn't sure if it was a school day, wasn't sure if it was Saturday, wasn't sure if it was Noon. I didn't know anything. It scared me a little bit, so I didn't do that anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something like five percent of illy users will develop a persistent state that's similar to schizophrenia.

ALTSCHUL: Paranoid schizophrenia, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.

ALTSCHUL: Sort of a permanent state.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It becomes a permanent state and that can happen after even just a couple uses. So, for a lot of reasons it's a bad drug.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALTSCHUL: So, as you can see that was inside the emergency room and you know, the thing it really stands out for me as we did the investigation is just that these dealers are so smart. They're really targeting young people who don't know often that it has PCP in it, so they'll say you know this is just mint leaves or this is marijuana dipped in something with an extra kick, and they just don't know. Some do know but a lot don't and that really, that was what I really wanted to get across in the hour too.

COOPER: All right, Serena it's an amazing report. I've seen large excerpts from it and I really look forward to watching the whole thing tonight.

ALTSCHUL: Thanks a lot.

COOPER: I appreciate you being with us.

ALTSCHUL: Thank you.

COOPER: All right, see you later.

ALTSCHUL: OK, bye bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Nation's Youth>