A new social media trend involving medical tranquilizers forced the Mexican government on Wednesday to issue an alert over the sale of tranquilizers to ensure that nobody without a prescription will be able to get it.
The country's Health Department has announced that the public try to be vigilant about the sale of clonazepam, a tranquilizer, in many pharmacies and stores, and to report any that are selling the product without a prescription, according to the Associated Press.
The announcement is linked to a new social media challenge happening in the country where students in schools across Mexico have been competing with each other by taking the tranquilizer medicine and attempting to stay awake the longest, ABC News reported.
This has led to multiple worrying incidents over the past few months that have been linked to the social media challenge, including an incident in a Mexico City middle school where eight students were hospitalized and treated after taking a "controlled medication" that may have been tranquilizers.
Another school was hit by the trend on Thursday as an unnumbered amount of students were reported to have taken tranquilizer pills en masse. The condition of those who participated has yet to be publicized.
There was also another middle school in the northern city of Monterrey that found three students being treated for reportedly taking an unknown amount of doses of clonazepam. The department has taken it upon itself to warn students not to participate in such online challenges for the sake of their health.
"The call is also for children and adolescents not to participate or promote challenges that put their lives at risk," they said.
These are the first incidents involving students using tranquilizers on themselves this year; last year, a middle school in Guadalajara found itself treating five of its students after they reportedly consumed what the local government described as "a strong tranquilizer."
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