HAMBURG, NY - The Frontier school district is raising concern about a disturbing trend among young people nationwide -- snorting Smarties candy.
The alert comes after a group of students at Frontier middle school were found sniffing the candy in powder form, thinking it would give them a rush.
But, snorting or inhaling candy sugar, like Smarties does you no good and can only cause you problems.
"If the Smarties do end up getting into the lung then that can also cause infection, it is an irritant it can cause wheezing and maybe chronic cough and asthma and sinus complications," said Dr. Gail Burstein, the Erie County Health commissioner, "and ultimately, if someone is allergic to sugar or the contents of Smarties then, they could end up having an anaphylactic reaction and dying."
A couple weeks ago, Frontier School District officials say about 10 students were caught snorting or inhaling Smarties candy, after mashing the candy into a powder form. The district has posted an alert on their website informing parents and students of the dangers of snorting the candy.
"The concern then becomes from an adult and from a professional like me is if they are willing to do this what's going to happen when somebody says try this pill or let me crush this up for you and you don't know what that is, but you want to be cool," said Jodie Altman, a director at Kids Escaping Drugs.
But, it's not cool, especially when sniffing the candy gets you suspended from school. That's what happened to one mother's third grader near Atlanta.
Altman has a message to parents: "you need to watch your kids, you need to observe your kids, you need to ask questions, nothing needs to be off limits with your kids, they live in your house you need to check in their rooms, you need to check on their friends, nothing is off limits."
And students, if you see this type of activity happening, experts recommend that you report it to your teacher. As for the Frontier students, they were not penalized. The school principal says they were just told to stop snorting the candy and were told of the consequences of sniffing the powder.
