Sanitizing High In Prison

I'm actually surprised this case came from an inmate within prison walls, rather than from a 13-year old kid in Suburbia.

The story here is that a 49-year old inmate in Maryland was submitted to the hospital in a drunken and delirious state. Seeing as the prison bars don't serve alcohol (I appologise for the ridiculous play on words...), this inmate had assumed that drinking alcohol-based hand sanitizer would do the trick. Well, it is 70% alcohol (some sources say it's "only" 62% alcohol, can't confirm, mainly cuz I don't have a bottle of Purell in my possession...), and alcohol gets you drunk. Really drunk, in this case, as the typically calm inmate was described as "loony", "red-eyed", and "combative", like your average "garden-variety drunk". His blood alcohol level was 0.33, so I guess we're not talking about just a slight buzz... By the way, this is not an isolated incidence. There are more medically documented instances of this happening. And who hasn't as a joke suggested drinking, say, cologne, cuz it contains alcohol. Here in Finland, there are many instances of people drinking something with an alcohol content that isn't meant for drinking. I guess the number one source of a "cheap buzz" in Finland amongst the common sense-deprived alcoholics is Lasol, a window washing liquid for cars. I hope this is a joke, or then just a horribly ironic case, but Lasol has just come out with a Lasol Six-Pack, a great gift!!! See the picture for yourselves... Can't wait to come across a hobo in Finland carrying one of these babies around!!!

Oh, and going back to the original story, Meghan Marschall, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Purell, said: "When used as directed, Purell is safe and effective." (source) I guess there's a reason no bartender has created a cocktail with Purell as an ingredient...

I've added the picture to give you visual aid in avoiding a repeat of this stupidity. It works well as it is intended, as a Hand Sanitizer, just don't try to sanitize your innards...

Read the Washington Post and BodyHack articles on the matter for further information.

Sources:
Washington Post Article
Wired.Com Bodyhack Article