Wasp dope
{{Short description|Recreational ingestion of insecticides}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
Wasp dope, or wasping, also known by the street name KD or Katie, refers to the ingestion of common household insecticides either combined with or as a substitute for more conventional addictive substances that cause euphoria, such as methamphetamine or crack cocaine.{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=April M. |last2=Livingston |first2=Melvin |last3=Vickers-Smith |first3=Rachel |last4=Cooper |first4=Hannah L.F. |title=Emergence of wasp dope in rural Appalachian Kentucky |journal=Addiction |date=2020 |volume=116 |issue=7 |pages=1901–1907 |doi=10.1111/add.15291 |pmid=33063438 |pmc=8046840 |url=}} Wasp dope is an emerging trend in the southern United States,{{cite news|publisher=ABC Action News|title=People Are Using Heavy Duty Bug Sprays to Get High|url=https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/people-are-using-heavy-duty-bug-sprays-to-get-high-and-it-is-really-dangerous}} although there are obscure reports of insecticide abuse dating back to the 1980s.{{cite journal |last1=Gussow |first1=Leon |title=The Latest High: Wasp Spray Dope |url=https://journals.lww.com/em-news/Fulltext/2022/01000/Toxicology_Rounds__The_Latest_High__Wasp_Spray.9.aspx |journal=Emergency Medicine News |date=January 2022 |volume=44 |issue=1 |page=10 |publisher=Lippincott, Williams & Witkins |doi=10.1097/01.EEM.0000815532.96632.e8 |access-date=February 25, 2022}} "Sporadic similar cases have been reported over the past four decades."
History
The origin of wasp dope remains unclear, and very little research is available on wasp dope users.
In 1979, at a hearing before the United States House of Representatives, it was reported that there was knowledge about the abuse of Raid wasp killer among American drug users.{{cite book |title=Abuse of Dangerous Licit and Illicit Drugs—psychotropics, Phencyclidine (PCP), and Talwin |date=1979 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RbZNHAJ5IUC}}
A July 2000 report from the Journal of Hand Surgery describes 5 patients in the United States who injected common bug poison. Extreme inflammation and liquefaction necrosis were among the pathologies observed in these cases.{{cite journal |last1=Buchman |first1=Mark T. |title=Upper extremity injection of household insecticide: A report of five cases |journal=Original Communications |date=2000 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=764–767 |doi=10.1053/jhsu.2000.8643 |pmid=10913221 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0363502300029646}}
Signs and symptoms
Although household bug sprays are relatively safe when used as intended, the act of huffing, smoking, snorting, drinking, plugging, vaping or injecting bug poison could result in irreversible neurological damage, or even death.{{cite web |last1=Beasly |first1=Michael |last2=Temple |first2=Wayne |title=Pyrethroid Toxicity and its Management |url=https://bpac.org.nz/bpj/2013/december/docs/BPJ57-pyrethroid.pdf |publisher=National Poisons Centre}} Possible symptoms of ingesting bug poison include, but are not limited to: erratic behavior, nausea, headache, sore throat, extreme inflammation, redness of the hands and feet, auditory hallucinations, convulsions, coma, necrosis, and death.{{cite news |publisher=WISH-TV|title=Wasp spray used as alternative meth, contributed to three overdoses|url=https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/wasp-spray-used-as-alternative-meth-contributed-to-three-overdoses/}}{{cite news |title=People Are Overdosing on Wasp Spray in West Virginia|url=https://www.livescience.com/65954-wasp-spray-overdose-meth.html |work=Livescience}}{{cite journal |last1=Bradberry |first1=SM |title=Poisoning due to pyrethroids. |journal=Toxicological Reviews |date=2005 |volume=2 |issue=24 |pages=93–106 |doi=10.2165/00139709-200524020-00003 |pmid=16180929 |s2cid=32523158 }}
Methods of ingestion
A case report from Texas describes two different ingestion methods. The patient would spray the insecticide onto a hot surface, which would cause it to crystallize. This purified material would then be inhaled or smoked. It is also said that the crystalline bug poison is dissolved in water, and injected intravenously.{{cite journal |last1=Sharma |first1=Pravesh |last2=Manning |first2=Stephen |last3=Baronia |first3=Regina |last4=Mushtaq |first4=Saira |title=Pyrethroid as a Substance of Abuse |journal=Case Reports in Psychiatry |date=2014 |volume=2014 |page=169294 |doi=10.1155/2014/169294 |pmid=25431720 |pmc=4241337 |doi-access=free }}
A 1979 hearing before the United States Congress indicated that some American drug users were smoking Raid wasp killer.
Prevalence
Research published in 2020 suggested that 19% of substance abusers in Appalachian Kentucky have ingested wasp dope. The use of wasp dope is strongly associated with homelessness and methamphetamine use in this region.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite news|newspaper=Indianapolis Star|title='Think what it’s doing to your brain': Using bug spray to get high|author1=Holly V. Hays|author2=Robert Scheer|date=March 18, 2018|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2018/03/18/think-what-its-doing-your-brain-using-bug-spray-get-high/426668002/}}