Teenage boys will do anything for a dare. Actually, most men, whatever age, will do anything for a dare – I spent last night watching a friend try to eat 10 iceberg lettuces just because someone told him it wasn’t possible (it wasn’t – he went a virulent green after 7).
So pity the 14-year-old from the West Midlands who ended up being hospitalised after eating 45 pieces of nicotine replacement gum. Aiden Williams was given the gum by a friend at the Menzies High School in West Bromich after it was handed out at the school by Sandwell Councils’ Drug Education, Counselling and Confidential Advice Team (DECCA). Children as young as 12 can receive a week’s supply, or 105 pieces, if they ask for it.
Unsurprisingly, after it was handed out the children were passing it around in the playground. Aiden said that a few minutes after eating it, he started feeling light-headed and the next thing he knew, he was in hospital attached to a heart monitor.
Though he could have died from the nicotine overdose, his father said that his life was saved by the fact that earlier in the day, Aiden had been indulging in the age-old schoolboy pastime of smoking behind the bike-sheds. John Williams said his son had smoked one or two cigarettes earlier, which allowed his body to get used to the nicotine.
Mrs Williams has critised DECCA for giving out the gum without informing parents first, but DECCA have refused to shoulder all the blame. Though they have promised to launch an investigation, they intend to continue to give out the gum. They said that they do warn the teenagers not to give the gum to anyone else. Their spokesperson added that it was the first time an incident such as this had happened and that the child originally given the product would have been clear instructions how to use it.