JEDDAH, 20 April 2006 — Some young men who want to experiment with alcohol are getting a deadly surprise when they think cologne and perfume bottles that say alcohol on the side are safe to drink.
It happened four years ago, and now it has happened again, claiming the lives of 17 young men around the Kingdom. Those who drank it and sought immediate medical attention now are being treated for blood poisoning; those who drank it and didn’t seek medical help are dead.
Although drinking alcohol in the Kingdom is banned, some young people make the mistake thinking that anything that says alcohol is consumable despite the law. Methyl alcohol is not the substance found in the liquors of Europe and the West. Ethyl alcohol is the substance used in liquors. Methyl alcohol is a deadly poison and is never intended for use as a beverage in any culture.
Al-Nadwa daily recently launched an investigation into the practice in an effort to warn young people and hopefully save lives.
“This problem started four years ago when a number of university and high school students fell victim to it,” said Dr. Saleh Awad Al-Garni, an expert in Islamic studies. “At that time, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry withdrew all the cologne from the market where ethyl alcohol exceeded 90 percent and methyl alcohol exceeded 50 percent.”
Apparently, the problem has reared its ugly head again.
“We were very surprised over the past few weeks that many have died as a result of drinking cologne,” Al-Garni said. “This shows that these people were neither restrained nor were they religious in heart. They were searching for pleasure that only lasts a few minutes. I think part of the problem is the drinking scenes that they see on satellite channels.”
He said it could be an indication of problems at home.
“If they were under parental supervision, such problems could have been detected and treated immediately,” said Al-Garni. “Leaving teens unattended will result in such tragic incidents. Claiming unemployment or poverty are the reasons for it is nonsense. Since when was poverty the road that leads to destruction? Being unemployed does not mean killing ourselves.”
Other experts say it is time to raise the national awareness about these problems.
“How could they die in search of an illusory pleasure?” asked Dr. Abdul Lateef Al-Sabban, a social science consultant at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. “Most likely these young people suffer from personality disorders or are troubled by certain social or family issues. We should not ignore them and work on solving these problems. We should investigate what would drive them to do such things. There will be negative consequences if we ignore this because it could grow to dangerous levels and might reach a point where it will be impossible to stop.”
Physicians note that long-term use of ethyl alcohol can have potentially deadly side-effects, but even one drink of methyl alcohol is enough to kill.
“It’s very sad that these people are buying the cologne to drink it,” said Dr. Muayad Al-Hashmi, a general practitioner. “The Ministry of Commerce warned us about these colognes and limited sales to spray bottles. Smugglers, on the other hand, import the dangerous colognes into the Kingdom caring only about making fast money — not about people’s health. I hope all efforts will be united against this problem to eliminate it once and for all.”
