Teens say they get high 'i-dosing' to online tones

OKLAHOMA CITY — Teens in Oklahoma and other states are experimenting with what they say is a new way to get high: listening to online music and tones that they say can cause a drug-like state of euphoria.

The youths plug into what they call "i-dosers" by putting on headphones and downloading music and tones that create a supposed drug-like euphoria, according to some school officials.

The technology is designed to combine a tone in each ear to create a binaural beat designed to alter brainwaves.

In March, three students at Mustang High School in Mustang, Okla., were sent to the principal's office when they appeared to be high on drugs or alcohol, said Mustang School District Superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot. She said the kids explained that they had tried something called "i-dosers."

Whether it was kids faking it, the power of suggestion or a real high wasn't clear to administrators who investigated the students' claims.

Adding to the mystery was the fact that these kids weren't troublemakers, Lightfoot said. So the worried Lightfoot sent parents a letter warning them to be aware of this new temptation to kids.

"The parents' reaction was the same as mine. Just shocked," Lightfoot said. "You've got to be kidding."

Now other schools and drug experts are concerned about this trend.

"I think it's very dangerous," said Karina Forrest-Perkins, chief operating officer of Gateway to Prevention and Recovery in Shawnee, Okla. While there are no known neurological effects from digital drugs, they encourage kids to pursue mood-altering substances, she said.

Some parents have called the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control worried about i-dosing, said bureau spokesman Mark Woodward. He said the i-dosing effect is likely sort of a placebo rather than a valid threat to children's brain waves.

"The bigger concern is if you have a kid wanting to explore this, you probably have a kid that may end up smoking marijuana or looking for bigger things," Woodward said.

The digital drug website features advertisements enticing young people to buy dangerous pills, the hallucinatory herb salvia and synthetic marijuana.

"It's going to lead them to other websites that will get them in trouble," Woodward said.