Kids are sniffing this pantry staple to get high — right under their parents’ noses
What in the pumpkin spice?
A Georgia mom whipped up a fragrant frenzy on social media this week after warning parents in a now-viral video that their teens have found a peculiar new way to get high — by sniffing nutmeg.
The woman, who goes by the name Lakeview Living on TikTok, ignited the controversy after speaking with a teacher who related the issues that schools in their area are experiencing with the everyday baking ingredient, The Daily Dot reported.
“Today, I was talking with one of my teacher friends and she was like, ‘Girl, trying to stay one step ahead of these kids is exhausting,'” the mom recalled, in a post that has spice-racked up 500,000 views in just days.
“I know. It sucks,” the woman, who is a youth leader, commiserated.
However, she said her friend told her something “flipping wild.”
She said that an area school recently had conducted a “backpack check,” during which teachers found bottles of nutmeg in a couple of students’ bags.
When the students were asked why they had the eggnog essential in their bags, they told teachers it was because they had “culinary class,” she explained.
She said when a fellow teacher approached the culinary instructor about what they were making with the warming, seasonal spice, the teacher replied: “What are you talking about? We’re not making anything with nutmeg.”
Apparently, the school’s “resource officer” overheard the conversation and asked which students had the nutmeg in their bags. He later found the students in their classrooms and confiscated the nutmeg and the students got suspended.
“You know why they’re all suspended? Because these flippin’ teenagers have figured out you can use nutmeg to get high,“ she explained.
“Y’all can’t get your homework done, but you can figure out how to get high off of nutmeg? Make it make sense,” she roasted the students.
The Post has reached out to the whisk-leblowing mom for comment.
Some commenters below her video said they’ve heard about nutmeg poisoning — and that the warning was far from bake news.
“I took care of a kid years ago at the hospital for nutmeg intoxication. It was the first time I’d heard of it. Started in jails. But they have internet, so I’m sure that’s where they learned it,” one person said.
“This has been a thing for years. There’s a substance in it that is psychoactive but not in a fun way. You get the worst hangover of your life for a 10 min high,” another added.
Others were surprised the students were suspended.
“How were they suspended if it’s it is not an illegal substance?” someone questioned.
Nutmeg, while generally used as a household spice, is sometimes “abused for its narcotic and hallucinogenic properties,” according to an article from the Encyclopedia of Toxicology.
It’s also hazardous and potentially fatal.
“One to three seeds or 5–30 grams of the ground nut are used to attain psychogenic effect,” the article explained.
The initial symptoms of taking a large dose include giddiness, tingling, euphoria, and hallucinations. The hallucinations can include changed perception in time and space, detachment from reality, and a fear of death following delirium and drowsiness.
Other side effects include “headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, chest pain, flushing, tremor, and tachycardia,” the article explained.
People have been accidentally overdosing on the popular pie spice for 400 years.
Apparently, students have recently been attempting to huff nutmeg because of a social media trend.
A 14-year-old was rushed to the emergency room with severe agitation after ingesting three tablespoons of nutmeg for a TikTok “Nutmeg Challenge,” in which she tried to get high off the drug, according to a report from the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The Encyclopedia of Toxicology also noted that an 8-year-old died after eating two seeds and that a 55-year-old also died from acute nutmeg poisoning.
