All the buzz about “beezin’” is really just a lot of noise, according to police.
Recently, stories have been circulating on the Internet and through social media about what is being called an alarming new trend among teenagers. According to the stories, teenagers were using Burt’s Bees lip balm in order to get high by rubbing the popular brand of lip balm on their eyelids and referring to the practice as “beezin.”
As the story goes, the chemicals in the lip balm are absorbed through the eyelids, producing a high. Other stories claimed that while the lip balm alone would not produce the high it would intensify highs obtained through other drugs or alcohol.
Despite all the sensation regarding, “beezin,” the story does not hold water, according to Capt. Mike Little of the Carter County Sheriff’s Department.
“There is no legitimate documentation that it will cause a high,” Little said. “It was actually a hoax.”
Little said that his research into “beezin” showed that the stories about the practice began as a practical joke. “Burt’s Bees contains peppermint oil, which, once it is rubbed on the eyelids can run down into the eyes and cause irritation and burning,” he said. “We don’t have any documented cases of it here.”
The story circulated as a practical joke as teenagers promoted it as a way to get high in order to get others to put the lip balm on their eyelids and ultimately suffer the burning truth as the peppermint oil caused pain to those willing to try it.
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were used to perpetuate the joke and there is even a YouTube video where a young man raps about “beezin.”
Eventually the story became so big that some news agencies around the country reported on teens who were “beezin” and talked to law enforcement officers and even doctors about the trend.
Jokes like this have circulated on the Internet before, prompting people to do strange things in order to get high. In 2012 a story made its rounds that teenagers were boiling shampoo and inhaling the fumes in order to experience hallucinations.
Despite all the hype, the final verdict on using lip balm to get high is that it is nothing but a hoax and practical joke, Little said.