Jenkem: A Drug Made From Human Feces and Urine

In the car on the way home from school today, my teenage grandson and I were talking and the subject of drugs came up. I learned some almost unbelievable things. He told me that Young teens are huffing human feces and urine to get high. I could hardly believe what he was telling me so I did a web search on the subject and found out a bit more about this horrible new fad that is causing quite a stink in some areas. There are reports that claim the whole thing is a hoax and other reports that say it is indeed happening around the country. It's anyone's guess. This is what I found out about jenkem huffing:

The manufacturing of 'jenkem', which is fermented human feces and urine, has been going on for some time in Africa. Children and young teens fill plastic bottles with human feces scooped by hand from sewage ponds. The feces is tapped down leaving a small amount of room on top of the sludge. The bottles are placed in the hot sun where methane gas forms at the top. This gas is then huffed by the children.

This is an easy, cheap way to make a potent and popular drug that thousands of street children in Africa and perhaps other countries are using to get high. The high lasts for about an hour and causes the user to see visions and have other mind-altering reactions. In Zambia alone, over 75,000 children are sniffing sewage to forget their problems.

There have been reports of jenkem use in the United States but most of the stories are unconfirmed. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington, DC, no confirmed incidents have been substantiated in the U.S, but a number of parents report their children have mentioned hearing various conversations regarding the use of the fermented feces being put in a bottle with a balloon attached to catch the methane gas and then inhaled, giving a euphoric high similar to ingesting cocaine, but with strong hallucinatory affects.

It's been said that the taste of sewage remains in the mouth and the taste continues for several days after the jenkem-huffing episode. Jenkem is known on the street by several slang terms including: Waste, Winnie, Runners, Leroy Jenkens, Shit, Fruit from Crack Pipe, Butthash, Might and Runners.

Whether this horrible fad is really happening in this country or not is anyone's guess, but I believe it is only a matter of time before some poor fool tries it. After all, it's cheap, simple and is readily available.