Jump to content

Jenkem

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 31.185.167.26 (talk) at 17:20, 6 September 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jenkem is a purportedly-hallucinogenic substance allegedly created from fermented human waste, which has been purported to be a popular street drug in Zambia. Reports of the substance have been spreading via the Internet since the mid-1990s, and have proven difficult for parents.

In the mid to late 1990s, several reports stated that Jenkem was being used by Zambian street children.[1][2] In November 2007, anecdotal American media reports gave the impression that Jenkem was an actual, popular drug taking hold with American teenagers. Media reports were characterized by disbelief and distaste for the perceived abjection of the phenomenon.[3]

Several sources allege that this sudden spurt of reports in US popular media were based on a hoax (see section below). David Emery of About.com, popularly noted[peacock prose] as an "urban legend guru",[3] concluded that news media reports that Jenkem was gaining a foothold as a substance of abuse among American youth were "based on faulty Internet research."[4]

The surfacing of the drug, or rumors of its existence, has caused at least one US municipality to amend its city ordinance regarding substances that cannot be legally inhaled to include organic substances.[5][6]

Description

In the book Children of AIDS: Africa's Orphan Crisis by Emma Guest, the making of Jenkem is described: "fermented human sewage, scraped from pipes and stored in plastic bags for a week or so, until it gives off numbing, intoxicating fumes."[7] The process is similarly described in the 1995 IPS report: "Human excreta is scooped up from the edges of the sewer ponds in old cans and containers which are covered with a polyethylene bag and left to stew or ferment for a week.".[2] The 1999 BBC article refers to "the dark brown sludge, gathering up fistfuls and stuffing it into small plastic bottles. They tap the bottles on the ground, taking care to leave enough room for methane to form at the top."[1]

The general concerns related to "huffing" and hallucinogenic drugs apply to Jenkem usage. The possibility of fecal-oral contamination due to unhygienic conditions during Jenkem manufacturing, which could lead to diarrhea and other gastrointestinal infections, must also be considered. Dr. Fumito Ichinose, an anesthesia specialist in Boston who conducted a study on the effects of hydrogen sulfide gas, or "sewer gas," on mice, informed Salon.com that "the inhalation of gases like those produced from Jenkem could result in hypoxia, a lack of oxygen flow to the body that could be alternately euphoric and physically dangerous."[3]

The effects of Jenkem inhalation last for around an hour and consist of auditory and visual hallucinations.[1] In 1995, a fifth-grader in Lusaka said of Jenkem to a reporter from IPS, an independent wire service, "Old man, this is more potent than cannabis."[2] In a BBC report four years later, 16-year-old Luke Mpande stated his preference for Jenkem over other inhalants, "With glue, I just hear voices in my head. But with Jenkem, I see visions. I see my mother who is dead and I forget about the problems in my life." Many young teens highly prefer the use of jenkem over other forms of drugs. The simplicity of making it is a factor along with the effects it has on one's brain.[1]

Neither the pharmacology (the composition and active components) of the jenkem gas nor its pharmacodynamics (how the chemical acts on the body) have been described in a scientific journal. None of the usual authorities on psychoactive drugs have involved themselves in the investigation of this drug. This includes MAPS. Erowid, a website providing access to information about psychoactive plants and chemicals, covered the subject briefly in its questions section and concluded that it was a hoax.[8] Erowid's website states that the "Jenkem stories that have been circulating in the U.S. media are almost certainly the strange result of a hoax." The organization states that "We have seen no credible evidence that anyone in the United States, Canada, or Europe inhales sewage gas from bottled human or animal waste (which would primarily be methane) in order to get psychoactive effects."[9]

Media reports

1995–2004

The first media description of Jenkem came from an Inter Press Service wire report in 1995.[2] In 1999 BBC News then ran a story devoted to this new drug.[1] Then in 2004 the South African weekly investigative newspaper Mail & Guardian mentioned Jenkem abuse in a report on the predicament of Zambia's street children.[10] All three news reports are based on correspondent investigations in Lusaka, Zambia.

Zambian street children

According to a 1998 report in The New York Times, Fountain of Hope, a non-profit organization, said that Jenkem was used by street children in Lusaka, Zambia to obtain a "powerful high."[11] In 2002, Project Concern International Zambia and Fountain of Hope released a report entitled "Rapid Assessment of Street Children In Lusaka," where Jenkem is listed as the third most popular drug among Lusaka's street children, following Dagga (cannabis) and "glue and Dagga" but ahead of "Ballan" (uncured tobacco) and petrol.[12] The raw materials are plentiful and freely available in the form of fecal matter from the open sewers of Lusaka. This is then fermented in plastic bottles and the fumes are inhaled. John C. Zulu, director of the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development in Zambia, informed Salon.com in November 2007 that Jenkem usage is less common than glue-sniffing and, "Initially, they used to get it from the sewer, but they make it anywhere [...] They say it keeps them warm and makes them fearless."[3]

Mainstream media and Western use

File:Jenkem1.jpg
The Collier County Sheriff Office intelligence bulletin from September 26, 2007 which was later leaked to the media.

Until the summer of 2007, international awareness of Jenkem was limited mainly to sporadic posts in online forums and blogs citing the Wikipedia article[citation needed] and the news reports mentioned therein. What set off a flood of media attention began in early September when a concerned parent reported to the principal of Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples, Florida that she had heard about Jenkem from her child who was a student there.

No usage was claimed; however, the principal passed the information on to the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Naples, and on September 26 the office's intelligence bureau issued an internal intelligence bulletin that asserted alarmingly: "Jenkem is now a popular drug in American Schools." It appears that this assertion was mere conjecture, as later no news reports have confirmed such widespread usage. The intelligence bulletin was based at least in part on the writings of a 13-year old boy, known online as "Pickwick," who posted in the TOTSE Better Living Through Chemistry discussion forums that he was going to try out Jenkem based on the recipe provided in the sources mentioned above.

On September 25, "Pickwick" posted to the TOTSE community, "The jenkem thing was a hoax" and retracted his previous trip report, asserting it "was faked using flour, water, beer and Nutella." He also stated "I never inhaled any poop gas and got high off it [...] I have deleted the pictures, hopefully no weirdo saved them to his computer. I just don't want people to ever recognize me as the kid who huffed poop gas."[13]

A nationwide DEA bulletin was also issued[citation needed]; however, the time of this DEA release and its relation to the Collier County Sheriff's Office's bulletin remains unclear. The timeline subsequent to these events is described below.

Late October to early November 2007

Snopes (Urban Legends Reference Pages) published a report on October 30, 2007 on the veracity of Jenkem. It initially concluded by listing the phenomenon as undetermined, but by November 9 this had been updated to false. In its first version Snopes cited both Pickwick's trip report on the TOTSE forum (the thread had been deleted without explanation on October 7, 2007),[14] and the leaked alert bulletin from the Collier County Sheriff's Office.[15]

A few days after the Snopes report had been published, on another website investigating urban legends, About.com, David Emery, described by Salon.com as an "urban legend guru,"[3] also issued a report, more analytic than the Snopes report, concluding that the recent news media reports that Jenkem was gaining a foothold as a substance of abuse among American youth were dubious and "based on faulty Internet research."[4]

On November 3, two mainstream media outlets, television station KIMT of Mason City, Iowa[16] and WINK NEWS,[17] a Fort Myers, Florida broadcaster, reported on the rumors of Jenkem being a new hallucinogenic drug among American high school students. According to WINK News, the Collier County Sheriff's Office confirmed having issued the drug alert.

On November 5, The Smoking Gun reported on the Collier county alert, noting that "the report itself may be full of shit".[18] On November 6, Washington Post columnist Emil Steiner, in his OFF/beat blog, commented on the Collier Sheriff's Office memo, the Snopes report and the WINK-TV news story, apparently introducing his own contamination of the story by reporting the origin of Jenkem to be "Africa and other third world countries." Steiner added that "a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency insists that 'there are people in America trying [Jenkem].'" The unnamed DEA spokesman stated that the agency had yet to test Jenkem, however volunteering a theory that "hallucinations from methane fumes" are involved. He also labeled any use of Jenkem "dangerous, bad and stupid."[19]

Fox News ran the story eight hours after the Steiner Washington Post column entry.[20] Fox also mentioned Pickwick's "trip report" as well as his later retraction.[13][20] In the same article, a Washington D.C. DEA spokesman, Garrison Courtney, specified that, "We wouldn't classify it as a drug so much because it's feces and urine."

UK technology tabloid website The Register also ran an article on the US Jenkem phenomenon on this date citing the leaked memo, Smoking Gun, Snopes and televised news reports, concluding that "the jury's out."[21]

On November 7, ABC News reported on Jenkem on its website. They also interviewed DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney, who stated that, "It is in Africa, we know that… We've heard rumors and speculation about it here, but part of looking for trends is listening first for speculation. It is something we want to keep on top of. The same sort of thing happened when we first heard of kids huffing freon or whippets [nitrous oxide, often found in whipped cream canisters]." The ABC report also focused on the need for law enforcement agencies to follow up on rumors and unconfirmed reports because so much of police work depends on early intervention which would be impossible if officers had to wait before something was a confirmed reality before acting on it.[22]

WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana ran the story on its local newscasts and posted it to its web site, including advice that parents "wait up for [their children] at night and not let their kids go to bed until they have seen them and smelled their breath." [23] The same day, Austin, Texas NBC affiliate KXAN-TV ran a story on Jenkem interviewing a local teenager and a parent. Michael Ginsberg of Clean Investment Counseling stated to KXAN that he was "Not surprised, a little bit nervous and scared for adolescents." Ginsberg did not find it unrealistic that Jenkem would become popular locally, stating, "Once it becomes OK with a certain group of adolescents, it becomes OK with a lot more."[24]

An Australian broadcaster, ninemsn, carried the Jenkem story on its website on November 8 based on American news reports.[25] A syndicated report published on the web pages of CBS affiliate CBS-47 and Fox affiliate Fox 30, both of in Jacksonville, Florida, reported on Jenkem and also referred to it by the slang term "butt hash," citing media reports from the Washington Post, the Drudge Report, and Inside Edition. This was also followed up by a Fox 30 televised news segment, in which Captain Tim Guerrette of the Collier County Sheriff's department was interviewed.

According to the syndicated report, talking to young people in the district did not reveal any awareness of Jenkem's existence and when they heard what it was, people expressed revulsion.[26]

A Florida syndicated newspaper article also appeared on November 8,[27] focusing on the leaked police memo. In the article another DEA spokesman, Rusty Payne, was interviewed as well as the Palmetto Ridge High School principal and a spokeswoman for the Collier County Health Department, all of whom had very little to add to the existing vague reports that were circulating in the media.

November 2007

Salon.com featured an in-depth exposition of the Jenkem story by freelance news and culture writer Jamie Pietras.[3] Pietras elicited statements about the evolution of Jenkem usage among Lusaka's street children from a Zambian government official who asserted that the key to curtailing jenkem usage in Zambia was to classify it as a narcotic, so that youth suspected of using the substance could be diverted into juvenile correction centers. Salon also focused on the media scare that had developed over the Jenkem phenomenon.

And it's a mystery whether "Pickwick," the self-proclaimed hoaxer behind the great jenkem scare of 2007, could have ever anticipated that his unique brand of Internet theater would inadvertently masquerade as fact. His Totse posts in the months leading up to the controversy reveal anxiety over the attention his prank continued to receive.

— Salon.com, November 9, 2007

Salon also obtained comments from Earth Erowid, the pseudonym of the co-creator of Erowid, a renowned online repository of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals, as well as the communications director for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Jag Davies, none of whom could provide information on the drug from sources within their own ranks. Partnership for a Drug-Free America public affairs representative Candice Besson also stated that PDFA had not previously heard about the drug.

The Enterprise Ledger of Enterprise, Alabama interviewed a local narcotics investigator, Neal Bradley, who stated that Jenkem was already in use on the west coast: “Whatever they’re using on the west coast is also used in Coffee County,” he said. “We’ve heard that this was something students were doing and it sounds crazy, but don’t think they’re not doing it here.” [28]

On November 11, The Times-Reporter of Dover-New Philadelphia, Ohio, included the Jenkem phenomenon in a Sunday commentary piece titled "Federal government attempts to wipe clean smelly drug world," asserting that while it was "largely debunked," with all the media coverage "someone will be stupid enough to try it, and we’ll probably hear reports of it turning up in frat house initiation rituals any day now."[29]

On November 13 The Orange County Register of Santa Ana, California mentioned Jenkem in a notice citing the Salon article and the Snopes report.[30] Also, Evansville, Indiana Fox affiliate WTVW broadcast a televised news item that lingered on a closeup photo of "Pickwick" and also included an interview with a local teenage boy who had heard about Jenkem but was disgusted at the thought of someone using it.[31] CBS-affiliated television station KWCH of Wichita, Kansas also had Jenkem in its news lineup on this date, interviewing local teenagers and law enforcement officials, none of whom could shed any more light on the phenomenon. The article accompanying the news segment stated, "there is reason to believe it's all a hoax."[32]

October 2010

An episode of the Spike program 1000 Ways to Die, which features supposed unusual deaths and urban legends, which aired on October 26, 2010 featured a segment about a musician, desperate for a high, who resorted to jenkem, with eventually fatal consequences. The death is reported to have occurred on September 17, 2002 in Provo, Utah.[33]

Building condemned after possible jenkem production

An apartment building in Fort Pierce, Florida was condemned by the local building authorities after large amounts of human feces was found in a second-floor apartment which police officials believed was being used for the production of jenkem by the residence's tenant. Several dozen containers and a five gallon plastic bucket filled with human excrement was found in the apartment and much had also been spread out on the floor and furniture. The situation came to the attention of a downstairs tenant after a foul substance smelling like feces had been dripping down the ceiling and running down the walls.[34][35]

Appearances in western media

In "War of the Coprophages", episode 12 of season 3 of the TV series The X-Files (1996), a teenage boy dies from self-inflicted wounds after inhaling methane gas generated by burning manure in a complex apparatus made from scientific glassware. In the episode, the boy claimed it allowed him to see "reality as it really is."

Redwood City, CA-based thrash/punk outfit, Cashed, detail the recreational use of jenkem in their song Butt Hash (from studio debut Anally Raped By Cashed; released by Dirt Cheap Records in 2010).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Matheson, Ishbel (July 30, 1999). "Children high on sewage". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-07-06.
  2. ^ a b c d "Zambia-Narcotics: 'Huffing and Puffing' to a new High". Inter Press Service. August 26, 1995. (reprinted in a Snopes.com article on jenkem, retrieved December 30, 2007.)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pietras, Jamie (November 9, 2007). "Smoke this shit". Salon.com. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  4. ^ a b Emery, David (November 6, 2007). "Jenkem - Drug Warning". urbanlegends.about.com. About.com. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  5. ^ Heitz, David (September 7, 2009). "Bettendorf prepares to expand huffing ordinance". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
  6. ^ "Bettendorf strengthens huffing ordinance". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. October 7, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  7. ^ Guest, Emma (2003). "Falling through the net. A street child's story, Lusaka, Zambia". Children of AIDS: Africa's Orphan Crisis (2nd ed.). Pluto Press. p. 149. ISBN 978-0745320755. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |origmonth=, |month=, |chapterurl=, and |origdate= (help)
  8. ^ Vaults of Erowid (July 2005). Ask Erowid: ID 3113. Retrieved December 30, 2007.
  9. ^ Ask Erowid : ID 3113 : Is "Jenkem" for real?
  10. ^ Geloo, Zarina (December 24, 2004). "Bleak outlook for Zambia's street kids". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-06. Marijuana was used most commonly, along with glue for sniffing, jenkem (fermented sewage), petrol and cocaine. Street children also smoke, and drink alcohol.
  11. ^ Daley, Suzanne (September 18, 1998). "In Zambia, the Abandoned Generation". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-06. (Spelled Jekem)
  12. ^ Zambia, Project Concern International; Lemba, Dr. Musonda (March 8, 2002). "Rapid Assessment of Street Children In Lusaka" (Document). UNICEF. {{cite document}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |isbn=, |volume=, |edition=, |oclc=, |series=, and |publication-date= (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |publication-place= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  13. ^ a b "The jenkem thing was a hoax"
  14. ^ "I Am Trying Jenkem Tomorrow": June 2007 discussion thread at the TOTSE Better Living Through Chemistry forum in which 'Pickwick' reports on his Jenkem experiment. Although TOTSE administrators deleted the entire thread on October 7, parts of Pickwick's posting are quoted in the About.com urban legends report, and further excerpts of interest from this thread have been archived by the website flux 64.)
  15. ^ "Home --> Crime --> Warnings --> Jenkem". Snopes. October 30, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  16. ^ Therese, Erin (November 3, 2007). "Dirty New Drug Threatens Youth". KIMT.com. KIMT-TV. Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  17. ^ "ONLY ON WINK: Are local kids using human waste to get high?". WINK NEWS.com. WINK NEWS. November 3, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-04. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ "New Drug Alert! - November 5, 2007".
  19. ^ Steiner, Emil (November 6, 2007). "Jenkem Madness? – Reports of a Nasty Drug in Florida". OFF/beat blog. The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  20. ^ a b "'Drug' Made From Human Waste Causing Stink on Web, in Law Enforcement". Fox News Channel. November 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  21. ^ Haines, Lester (November 6, 2007). "Florida cops issue shock 'Butthash' warning". The Register. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Goldman, Russell (November 7, 2007). "'Jenkem': Stay Alert or Call It a Hoax?". ABC News. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  23. ^ Cheatham, Kelli (November 7, 2007). "Police Warn About New Drug Made from Raw Sewage". WSBT.com. WSBT-NEWS. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  24. ^ "Police Training On How To Spot Nasty Drug". msnbc.com. KXAN-TV. November 7, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  25. ^ "'Poop gas drug' prompts official warning". ninemsn. November 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  26. ^ Westerman, Brandon (November 8, 2007). "Police warn teens using new human waste drug "Jenkem"". CBS-47. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
    Westerman, Brandon (November 8, 2007). "Police warn teens using new human waste drug "Jenkem"". Fox 30. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  27. ^ Mills, Ryan (November 8, 2007). "Sheriff's Office warns of new human waste drug, others pooh-pooh its existence". bonitanews.com. Bonita Daily News. Retrieved 2007-11-08. {{cite news}}: External link in |work= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
    Mills, Ryan (November 8, 2007). "Sheriff's Office warns of new human waste drug, others pooh-pooh its existence". naplesnews.com. Naples Daily News. Retrieved 2007-11-08. {{cite news}}: External link in |work= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Brand, Carole (November 9, 2007). "New drug in use by high school students". The Enterprise Ledger. Retrieved 2007-11-09. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ Blundo, Noah (November 11, 2007). "Federal government attempts to wipe clean smelly drug world". The Times-Reporter. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ "They're getting high HOW?". The Orange County Register. November 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ "Human Waste High?". WTVW. November 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) [dead link]
  32. ^ Wilhelm, Kim (November 13, 2007). "No Actual Cases of Kids Sniffing Raw Sewage". KWCH. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ "Fecal Attraction". October 26, 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010. A Keith Richards-esque aging rocker gets high off the fumes of fermented human waste, but dies when he gets stuck in a porta poty and can't get enough oxygen.
  34. ^ Scofield, Carolyn (December 3, 2010). "Smelly house forces tenants to leave". WPTV-TV. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  35. ^ Fitzgerald, Scott (December 3, 2010). "Waste-Filled Apartment Causes a Stink". NBC Miami. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
Look up jenkem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jenkem&oldid=448778309"