DIGITAL DRUGS' AT MUSTANG HIGH SCHOOL HAVE EXPERTS WARNING OF SLIPPERY SLOPE

As digital drugs or i-dosing appears in Oklahoma, experts warn that
it's not the sounds themselves that should worry parents. The
websites where the tones are sold entice young people down a slippery
slope, they say.

Schools and drug experts are warning parents to beware of "digital
drugs" that Mustang High School students blamed for their apparent
intoxication.

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

Young people plug into i-dosers through putting on headphones and
downloading music and tones that create a supposed drug-like euphoria.

The technology is designed to combine a tone in each ear to create a
binaural beat designed to alter brainwaves. Whether it was kids
faking it, the power of suggestion or a high wasn't clear to
administrators who investigated the students' claims. Adding to the
mystery was the fact that these kids weren't troublemakers. 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
just hitting Oklahoma.

"I think it's very dangerous," said Karina Forrest-Perkins, chief
operating officer of Gateway to Prevention and Recovery in Shawnee.
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 OBN 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 web sites that will get them in
trouble," Woodward said.

When young people go to one website to download digital drugs,
they'll find a product line featuring titles such as "alcohol,"
"opium," "marijuana" and "orgasm." The website shows the digital
drugs have been downloaded more than 1 million times.

To sell more, the websites encourage users to write about their
experiences on the site. One user said animals popped up and paint
seemed to fall from the wall. Another user wrote, "I feel nothing.
I'm starting to wonder if this is just a big ploy to get money from
gullible customers." Still others said they experienced euphoria or
sensations similar to getting high on crack and other drugs.

A site says that the i-doses may not be downloaded by anyone under 18
years of age.

"Come on. You know they are," Forrest-Perkins said. "No one over 18
is trying to get stoned on a song."

Kids disappointed in their digital experience might try huffing paint
or another chemical, or smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol,
Forrest-Perkins said.

Woodward and Forrest-Perkins pointed out that no studies have
concluded that binaural beats actually chemically alter the brain.

A 2005 University of South Florida study looked at whether children
and young adults with ADHD could better focus by listening to
binaural beats. But the results were inconclusive. The University of
Virginia recently received a $357,000 grant to look at pain and
anxiety therapies, primarily binaural beat stimulation.

Mental health counselor Jed Shlackman said he has successfully used
CDs featuring binaural beats to help treat ADHD patients. He said
binaural beats are relatively safe and no more dangerous than
activities such as shopping or exercising done in excess by young people.

He said the binaural beats lack the intensity or withdrawal effects
of some chemical drugs.

"If a parent notices a child is sitting around all the time with
headphones on, they should look into what stresses are happening in
the child's life ... and deal with it in a constructive way," Shlackman said.

Lightfoot said like Mustang High School parents, she's shocked over
the digital drugs.

"What worries me is the ease in which some people can sell things to
kids by saying that it's supposed to be mood altering," she said.
"It's a real moneymaker out there."