Digital drugs: Is your child getting high on the Internet?
By Nicole Brochu
Sun Sentinel Columnist
November 23, 2010
Just say no … to your iPod?
That's what all the hullabaloo over a new "craze" among high-seeking young people suggests — that anyone with an MP3 player, a decent set of headphones and a computer can experience a downloadable high that packs the wallop of marijuana, cocaine, opium and peyote.
It's called i-Dosing, or digital drugs, and according to a number of websites and media outlets — including our own WPBF Channel 12 in West Palm Beach — it's all the rage, especially among teenagers experimenting with ways to achieve an altered state of mind. And if it's legal, and accessible, and i-Dosing is both, all the better.
The digital buzz is delivered over the ear buds courtesy of downloadable audio tracks (with droning, cacophonous collections called "Hand of God," "Gates of Hades" and " Genesis") that use binaural, or two-tone, technology to play different tones in each ear, altering your brainwave and recreating a buzz you supposedly can't find elsewhere without a prescription, or the help of your friendly neighborhood pusher.
While you can find the first "dose" for free, subsequent hits can cost as little as $1 for a quickie, or as much as $60 for 30 i-Doses, according to the WPBF story. And the Internet is abuzz with YouTube videos and other uploadable accounts of thrill-seekers in various stages of ecstasy after supposedly partaking of this hip, new cyber-trend.
The question is, is this a real concern, another reason to reach for the Tums as parents struggle to keep their kids safe from Internet perils, or is it a harmless fad, overblown by kids exaggerating an i-Dose's effects and by websites making a ransom off the gullible?
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs is taking no chances, warning parents that i-Dosing can become a legal gateway to more serious foolery. And Oklahoma's Mustang Public School sent home warnings to parents and banned iPods and cell phones in school, just in case.
"The bigger concern is if you have a kid wanting to explore this, you probably have a kid that may end up smoking marijuana or looking for bigger things," OBN spokesman Mark Woodward told NewsOK.
The other concern: If disappointed by the digital "high," some kids may turn to inexpensive, dangerous, and illegal, methods of intoxication like huffing and alcohol.
But others, like Psychology Today, scoff at the notion that binaural beat therapy is dangerous, explaining that the technology was discovered in 1839 as a way to research sleep cycles and treat anxiety.
So it may or may not produce a real mind-blowing high, and sorry, I'm not in the mood to test it out. I'm a little old for experimenting with mood-altering drugs that don't come in a bottle labeled "Chardonnay."
But this is what makes me uncomfortable about this supposed "craze," even if it's dismissed as harmless: Some of these sites sure sound like drug pushers, even if they're not.
I-Doser Labs, which calls itself the "industry leader in Binaural Brainwave CDs," says the technology is perfectly safe, and effective, and available only to those over 18.
Its website comes chock-full of testimonials from consumers who found its brand of out-there — seductively named "Speed," "Orgasm" and "Trip QH" — "mystic," "a MUST!!!" and a "rollercoaster" ride.
And it also doesn't just sell the cyber equivalent of a cocaine high. I-Doser Labs also peddles less explosive "study aids, sleep support, sexual assistance, meditational and spiritual tracks, and so so much more," brought to you by the same binaural technology that got you high as a cyber kite. And that's not all! The site also sells "legal marijuana," "mood-enhancement pills" and "legal hashish" to anyone who just so happens to be in the market for such fare.
But here's the come-on, like a whisper from a dark alley, that bothered me the most: "Do you have what it takes to be a Dose Dealer?" the site implores in its "affiliate program" offer. "Due to the hot press, some of our dealers are making THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. How do they do it? It's as easy as … Research (become familiar with i-Dosing); Distribute (share banner ads and links); Get Paid (we pay you 20 percent commission)."
This binaural business is creating a buzz alright. But my question is, what else is it creating?
Nicole Brochu is an editorial writer and health columnist. Contact her at nbrochu@sun-
