Doctor warns of dangers of using formaldehyde to get high

It goes by names like 'Wet,' 'Fry' and 'Illy.' It's a street drug that's been around in the Bronx for a while, but one doctor warns it's more dangerous than ever. Marijuana and regular cigarettes soaked

News 12 Staff

Sep 2, 2016, 1:32 AM

Updated 2,787 days ago

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Doctor warns of dangers of using formaldehyde to get high
It goes by names like 'Wet,' 'Fry' and 'Illy.' It's a street drug that's been around in the Bronx for a while, but one doctor warns it's more dangerous than ever.
Marijuana and regular cigarettes soaked in formaldehyde, a toxic chemical used to preserve tissue organs of dead people, is what some of the living are using to get a new high.
The reason so many people are smoking laced cigarettes, Dr. Ernest Patti, of St. Barnabas Hospital, says, is because embalming fluid reacts with the cigarette and causes it to burn slower, which in return gives the user a longer and more potent lasting high. 
He says early adolescent users of the drug will experience side effects like dangerous hallucinations, similar to that of smoking K2. 
"They may find themselves jumping off of buildings, crazy thing like that, and walking in traffic," says Patti.
Patti says he has seen traces of the drug use in the Bronx, but so far no patients have been admitted to the hospital from the Bronx with signs of use. 


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