Smoking…Smarties?

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It starts in elementary school, a way to “do drugs” while not actually doing drugs. It’s a substitute for smoking tobacco or cigarettes. What is it? It’s SMOKING SMARTIES!

Smarties are good to eat, but why are some teens smoking them? Credit: Haley Hottinger.

Children and teens think it’s fun to do this because they think they are getting the experience of smoking without the danger of cigarettes. Even though smoking Smarties may be a fun thing to do with your Smarties candy, it can cause harm to you and your body.

The ingredients in Smarties are dextrose, citric acid (used as a flavor enhancer), corn syrup solids, artificial favors, maltodextrine (a food additive), and calcium stearate (C36H70CaO4). According to Wikipedia, calcium stearate is a white, waxy powder that is the main component of soap scum.  It is used in the Smarties as a flow agent.

Some teens just don’t smoke Smarties, they also snort them! This is what causes infections in the lungs. The danger caused by smoking or snorting Smarties is that the particles from the tablets can be inhaled into the nose, lungs or any other respiratory body part.

According to Oren Friedman, a nose, head, and neck specialist at the Mayo Clinic, “Frequent use could lead to infections or worse, albeit rare, conditions such as maggots that feed on the sugary dust wedged in the nose.” Freidman did a two-month study about how kids get a higher risk of maggots in their nose by how many times they have smoked Smarties. He discovered that you can get cuts in the throat from not fully crushed bits of Smarties, as well as infection, allergic reaction, and bad breath.

In a survey of 131, 7th grade students at Farnsley Middle School (Louisville, KY) we found that 59 students or 45% said they do or have smoked Smarties.

“Well, the results are surprising to me,” says 6th grade at Farnsley Middle School Assistant Principal Clarence Glover. “I would’ve thought that more kids would’ve said that they do smoke Smarties than don’t, because it was very common for students to say that they have been smoking Smarties.”

A student at Farnsley Middle School said that he knows a lot of people who smoke Smarties. He thought it was cool, because it made you look like you were smoking. He started smoking Smarties in elementary school, because another kid showed him how!

Smoking Smarties is not the only fad going around. Here are some other things that teens are interested in and may be harmful to their health (you can even find all of these challenges on YouTube): Sniffing Pixie Sticks, Sniffing Kool-Aide mixed with vodka or any other kind of alcohol, and drinking Gummy Bears soaked in alcohol. Kasey Hottinger & Atorian Hunter                                                                                                                                                     

 

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80 COMMENTS

  2. I really think that this article inspired me. That is because I am now in seventh grade and go to Farnsley now and I will soon be trying to get published. Thank you so much for inspiring me. :smile

  3. I actuall never knew that kids were smoking smarties. This article shows that even the things we think tht are safe can be dangerous to our health. This article was very helpful.

  5. I think this an very good article beacuse i really didn tknow kids were smoking smarties i never heard of that before. i really dont like the candy smarties because i think the candy is very nasty , but i think elementary kids should not be somking smarties because it is not cool its very unhealthy for your body.

  6. the title really caught my attentiom also memories of middle school were kids went around showing othe students how to smoke smarties. they didnt know they was going aroung hurting each other body organs

  7. i cant believe teens do this it is stupaid and you are that bored that you have to do something like this to damage your systems grow up kids.

  8. i cannot believe this? if it isnt one thing kids are doing, its defitnely another. smoking smarties really? cmon you people can do better than this!

  9. I didnt know smoking a smartie was even possible. i think children should stop it because it is harmful. Great article, it taught me a lot. :congrate

  10. this was a great and exciting article because i know a lot of people who used to do this , so now i know what happened to their bodies.

  12. OMG, kids nowadays will do anything to keep them occupied. Teens need to learn about these safety issues. Just because your friend is "smoking" smarties dont mean you have to. Kids are just following what they think are cool, but in reality it can kill you. Grow up teens, because you have a full life ahead of you so dont make it get cut short!

  14. This article caught my attention quickly. I would’ve never thought children would even think to do this. Great article!
    -Relle J :gamba:good

  15. The title really caught my attention.This is a good informing article. This is a good persuasive article to tell kids not to do real drugs nor fake drugs.

  19. This was a great article . It was very informative on how kids somke smarties and wh they do it.I really never thought that kids would even have the idea or thought to somke smarties.

  20. This was great article to read because I would have never thought that smarties could harm you anyway or any possible form and now i know that they could hurt

  28. if your smoking smarties than you mind as well do drugs because smoking smarties will affect your brain,and lungs just like a drug in it. its also the first step to doing drugs.

  44. who wouldv’e ever thought smarties could harm you ? snorting smarties when they’re not fully crushed can cut your throat ? that’s really interesting, no wonder i’ve never done that.

  51. Kids in my school snort smarties and smoke them. I even heard they were going to smoke the bigger smarties with bigger smarties tablets.

    Just ridiculous &eth:-??¡

    • Hello, Yes i do see many kids smoking smarties, i think the 45% should be higher. some are ovisly lieing. one time there was this kid who didn’t have any smarties and was freaking out and there is this whole smarty Selling buissness thing at my school. so if kids keep smoking smarties, it could lead to health problems and future drug use

  53. I used to smoke Smarties back when it was cool (7th-8th grade) and it makes you feel like shit. It made my throat hurt and I think it gave me an infection, two years later.

  54. This kind of comes off as a scary topic… to think, so many people have "smoked" smarites before yet they’re unaware of the effects it has. Literally, just the other day, someone was smoking smarites on my bus.. they need to read this article.

  60. my friends do this and I whose to till I read this. thx so much for this document it saved my life and its going to save my friends too.:cried

  62. i have done this, matter of fact i have a bag of them with me right now. I guess they dont know how to do and any one that snorts any candy is stupid,any drug wither drugs are bad. You are definatly not supposed to inhale it, i certainly dont. but little children dont know any better. i rther eat smarties anyway.

  64. If you are dumb enough to actually inhal the smartie poweder well… lets just say you shouldnt do that and ou arnt supposed to snort the powder either you are only supposed to suck it in with your mouth so it doesnt irritate your throat or lungs.

    • WELL YEA SMARTIES ARE GOOD BUT I WOULDNT DARE SMOKE IT .. I KNEW FROM THE START SMARTIES WERE GOING TO CAUSE DAMAGE .Also,did u knoe by u snifing it causes magets …. ikr i jst learned dat when ever i was researching about it .

  68. I used to smoke smarties but I never thought I would get caught at school I haven’t done it ever since then because I learned what it does to your body my principal told me she had a talk about it with me so did my parents ppl stop smoking smarties I learned the hard way

  69. I smoke smarties and I would like to know how many until the maggots form and how they get in :sweat:wuwu:cried:why

  71. I’ve smoked smarties until about 3 weeks go I’ve only smoked smarties once I stopes as soon as I found out what could happen! I didn’t realize WHAT could be the effects!:wah

  73. "Smoking" smarties isnt bad. Now people do inhale it and then it becomes a bad habbit. But if u suck it in through your mouth and letting it sit there then breathing it out(from your mouth never entering your lungs then its not harmfull. The storys you hear is people actually breath it there b lungs so say what you will. Good night folks

  74. I have a problem with all this it’s so bad to smoke smarties stuff. People are doing this to look cool that’s all. All the people do is put power in there mouth and a small cloud appears. People are not in hailing the stuff they just suck it in to there mouths. Now on the other hand people do snort dust this i also have a problem with. people should not snort smarties because it dose go in to there lungs and can cause infection. signed a fan of smartie smokers

  75. What if you smoke smarties but you don’t inhale it all the way to your lungs can you still get maggots or any other desise of infection ?&eth:-???

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