Some 79,000 Ont. students play choking game: survey - CP

[Yrys]

Adults, beware of the games of the youngs around you...

Some 79,000 Ont. students play choking game: survey

TORONTO -- Some 79,000 Ontario students are playing a dangerous "choking game" which has killed at least 82 kids in the United States and has sent at least
72 Canadian kids to hospital, a new survey released Thursday found.

The 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health survey, by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, found about seven per cent of kids in grades seven to 12 have
played the so-called "choking game'' where someone intentionally chokes themselves or is choked by someone else to the point of almost passing out. The lack of
oxygen induces a brief state of euphoria or a high.

Dr. David Wolfe, director of CAMH's Centre for Prevention Science, said teens have always been fascinated with "altered states'' but said parents need to educate
themselves. "Activities such as the choking game are not new, but it is important that parents are aware of these behaviours and are prepared to speak with their
children about the dangers of these and other risky activities,'' he said in a release.

At least 82 kids have died in the United States playing the game in the last decade while 74 Canadian kids have been sent to hospital. One 12-year-old Barrie-area boy,
Jesse Grant, died in April 2005, after choking himself on a computer cord. He learned the game he called "black out'' at summer camp the previous year. The game is
also know as space monkey, the scarf game, and the pass-out game, and five minutes to heaven, among other names.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently warned parents to be on the lookout for signs their children might be playing the game. Signs include bloodshot eyes and
marks on the neck, frequent and severe headaches or the unexplained presence of items like dog leashes, choke collars, bungee cords or ropes, scarves and belts tied
to bedroom furniture.

 

[Greymatters]

Some of the activities of our youth, for whatever reasons, are just plain disturbing...

 

[MedTechStudent]

I've seen this done, the guy passed out.  He woke up and I said, "how was that?", and he said "dude that was cool I was tripping, you should try!"....to which I replied, "no thanks, I'm not an idiot."  This was actually like a pretty "cool" "game" at my high school when I was there.  A Catholic high school none the less   Only the method I saw was no so much choking just by the neck...

What they did was fold their hands over their chests and breath out, after they had breathed out all the way, two or three guys would push on their chest so hard that they passed out.  And the Darwin Award goes to... :

 

[PMedMoe]

I watched a TV special on this not too long ago.  20/20 or Dateline NBC, one of those types of shows.  Whatever happened to playing Hide 'n Seek and stuff like that?

Greymatters, I have to agree with you, what kind of "new" generation are we raising?

 

[Yrys]

What they did was fold their hands over their chests and breath out, after they had breathed out all the way, two or three guys would push on their chest so hard that they passed out.

What do you think could be warning signs for that variatin of the "game" ?

I don't remember playing anything of the like, but then I was a bookworm... The most dangerous thing I've done was
crossing a big street (blvd Jean-Talon) while reading ...

 

[MedTechStudent]

**corrected**  I see what you mean by warning signs, and I can't really think of any, unless you have lots of bruises on your stomach, I saw a few of those.


My issue here besides the obvious stupidity is the legal danger.  Lets say you try this, pass out, and wake up unable to keep your drool in your mouth.  Hello lawsuit and assault charge on the two friends just having some "school fun".  Its just stupid, however, being in that school less then a year ago I can tell you that this isn't done for the "high."  Its done for the simple reason that "some other guy did it", I mean what ever happened to the days when 14 year olds took up smoking to look cool?

 

[MedTechStudent]

One more thing you might want to know if you don't already.  This is NOT the stupidest "game" played in high school.  That title goes to "fire breath" (ya sounds stupid already eh?) which consists of putting a butane lighter tip in your mouth and pressing the button releasing butane into your mouth.  After a mouth full of butane you take the lighter out, close your mouth and spark the lighter while opening your mouth a little bit.  This causes a short but intense fireball INSIDE and around your bloody mouth.  Ya when you don't burn yourself horribly it looks pretty cool i guess.  But thats not a risk I'm stupid enough to take, about 5 kids got taken to the hospital with severe burns doing this.  Oh well I guess they don't need their sense of taste.

 

[Mike Baker]

:

Here is a prime example an ass clown's idea of fun.


Baker

 

[MedTechStudent]

But think about how COOL your gonna look doing it!

Your motor skills come and go, but "coolness" is forever :

 

[medaid]

Darwinism at it's best...

 

[MedTechStudent]

Yes hows the saying go?... they should just do everyone a favor and "remove themselves from the genetic gene-pool"  :argument:

 

[Shamrock]

Hey, turns out for some the gene-pool is self chlorinating.

 

[MedTechStudent]

Hey, turns out for some the gene-pool is self chlorinating.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

seriously..... fell over 5 consecutive times laughing

 

[tabernac]

Someone's signatire on the boards here used to be "I'm the Lifeguard of the Gene pool, GET OUT" or something to that extent... I think it's time to revive it.

 

[MedTechStudent]

http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/

Just incase one group of idiots was not entertaining enough.  Or if you just really love that sensation of looking down your nose at someone.

Enjoy

 

[ex-Sup]

But think about how COOL your gonna look doing it!
Your motor skills come and go, but "coolness" is forever :

Yup...I see it everyday. Sometimes the intelligence level is astounding.

Sometimes it's not about being cool, but rather not being "gay" (or ghey...apparently this is the new "politically correct" way of saying gay, but really meaning lame/dumb). I guess being safe and not dying fits into that category.

I have 20 more years to go; I have no idea how I'm going to get through it without turning into a drunk. 

 

[Alex252]

Seen enough kids do this stupid ass game. This one guy I knew thought it would be smart, so he did it, and of course nobody caught him when he fell and he just happened to catch a corner of a table on the temple of his head. A pint of blood later and a hasty trip to the ER, I think he learned his dumbass a lesson

 

[Bandit1]

Late Edit -> sorry, didn't realise there was already a thread about this.

My question is this:  If kids are inherently experimenting with what could be considered "torture" techniques in their youth, should we be surprised that they exist in certain segments of our society, and if so, do you believe that something needs to be done about it and if so, what?

For the record, I just think these kids are more than a little nuts - but it did lead to these questions....thoughts??

Pass Out Video

Waterboarding Video

Usual disclaimer for the following article.

Thousands of Ontario teens play 'choking game'
Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, May 01, 2008
About 79,000 Ontario students in Grades 7 to 12 have reported participating in the "choking game," which involves self-asphyxiation or being purposely strangled by someone else in a bid to get high, according to a new survey.

The new Ontario data was released Thursday in a survey by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

"Activities such as the choking game are not new, but it is important that parents are aware of these behaviours and are prepared to speak with their children about the dangers of these and other risky activities," said Dr. David Wolfe, director of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The game is also known as "blackout," "scarfing" and "space monkey."

Across the nation, figures provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada show that between 1990 and 2005, 74 youngsters showed up in emergency wards after playing the game. There was one death.

Many of the injuries came as a result of young people falling as they blacked out. Almost three quarters of those 74 patients were male and the median age was 12.1 years.

In 63 cases, half the incidents occured at school and just under a quarter happened in the home. Incidents peaked at noon (19.4 per cent) and in March (18.9 per cent)

But the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program notes that the problem is likely much more wide-spread. "Since individuals with no residual injuries or those who died may not present to the emergency department, this type of surveillance can only capture a very small proportion of these cases. More and broader research needs to be done to track and determine the scope of this problem," it says.

A study in the United States, released in February found at least 82 children and teenagers in the U.S. lost their lives from playing the game.

The U.S. study, released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed media reports from the past 12 years of instances in which children died from playing the game.

It found that 87 per cent of the 82 deaths were among males, and that the average age was 13.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health report also shows bullying continues to be a problem with Ontario youth, with stable but elevated rates of approximately 30 per cent of students reporting being bullied at school since September,; about three per cent - or 35,000 students - reported a suicide attempt in the past year and about one in 10 students rate their mental health as poor, with females more likely to do so than males - 16 per cent versus seven per cent.

 

[Jed]

This is not a 'new dumb ass game'. I remember school yard bone heads playing this in the early 60's. Kids that were sheeple would get sucked into the stupid process.

 

[MedTechStudent]

I have always thought that a huge reason for students taking up stupid things like hard drugs, "ships mast", THIS, is out of sheer boredom.  Boredom and just being sheep.  But ok, personally the way I avoided doing things like that was really easy, A.) you just don't associate yourself with those people, sure you won't be cool but you also won't be dead... and B.) take up a bloody hobby, for me it was guitar, thats what me and my friends did at recess or lunch we went into an empty classroom and practiced playing together. 

Now this isn't to say that music is going to keep you off drugs, when I was on tour with one band who's name will go undisclosed but you would all know them, I saw enough coke come in and out of that tour bus to buy a house.  Did I touch any of it?, no that stuff scares the hell out of me.

Point is, maybe if you give the students something to do at recess, like sports, music, games what have you...they might stop choking each other?  Now I know that sounds cheesy but trust me, everyone I know would rather play dodgeball then kill their brain cells.