A dangerous new internet craze, known as the "tranquilizer challenge," is raising concern among parents and law enforcement officials in Mexico as it has already led to 15 students being treated.

According to the Associated Press, these grade school students in the north-central city of Guanajuato have been treated after taking part in the challenge in which groups of students take tranquilizers to see who can stay awake the longest.

While no official information was released on the students' condition, they were believed to be in the fifth and sixth grades. It is still unknown how and where they got the tranquilizers used in the deadly internet challenge.

Guanajuato Mayor Alejandro Navarro noted that the students were treated in the school and urged parents to supervise their children whenever they use social media.

"As a rule, girls and boys shouldn't have social media accounts, it's bad to start with," the mayor wrote on his Facebook account. It was reportedly the fourth school in Mexico to suffer such incidents since last year.

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What Is the Tranquilizer Challenge?

This internet challenge has become popular among teens in Mexico, and "the last one to fall asleep wins" the challenge. As the name suggests, the students take tranquilizers and find out who is the last to fall asleep.

This challenge is dangerous, as many tranquilizers are considered controlled medications and can cause harm if the dosage is not monitored. Some tranquilizers, such as clonazepam, even require a prescription before they can be sold. It becomes more dangerous because these kids administer the tranquilizers without adult supervision.

Before this incident in Guanajuato, eight middle school students in Mexico City were also treated after taking part in the "tranquilizer challenge." Some were even hospitalized. Another three middle school students near the northern city of Monterrey were also treated for taking clonazepam doses.

Mexico's Health Department Warns Against the Tranquilizer Challenge

The latest incident in Guanajuato City happened only a few days after Mexico's Health Department issued an alert regarding kids participating in the "dangerous" internet challenge.

According to Fox29, the alert called on the public to report any store selling clonazepam, the tranquilizer usually used in these challenges, without any prescription. The department also urged children and adolescents not to participate in or promote the challenge that "put their lives at risk."

The first incident could be traced back to 2022 when five middle school students near the western city of Guadalajara consumed what the Jalisco state governor, Enrique Alfaro, described as "a strong tranquilizer."

The "tranquilizer challenge" is among the dangerous internet challenges in social media, including the infamous "Tide pod challenge" and the choking game or "blackout challenge."

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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