What will teenagers come up with next?

What do mouth wash, cough medicine and hand sanitizer have in common?

Hint: It has nothing to do with cold season.

Strangely enough, these are all household items used by teenagers to get drunk, or at least try to.

Six California teens allegedly were sent to the hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning due to drinking the diluted hand sanitizer.

Diluted hand sanitizer to a liquid form consists of approximately 62 percent ethyl alcohol, according to an Associated Press report.

That's more than 120 proof alcohol.

Let's go through a short list of alcoholic beverages found in many adults liquor cabinets: Beer is around 9 proof; red wine is around 22 proof; Captain Morgan Spiced Rum is about 70 proof; and Jack Daniels Whiskey is about 80 proof.

These proofs are listed clearly on the bottle so you are able to make clear judgment of the amount of alcohol you are consuming. Well, that is their intent.

Before now, who really knew how much alcohol was found in hand sanitizer, and what else is in there? That's why consuming random household items is so dangerous.

The AP report noted parents should start purchasing foam hand sanitizer rather than the gel to help deter teens from diluting it.

Next thing you know during cold season we will also need IDs to purchase hand sanitizer, and only be able to purchase so much.

There goes my gallon of hand sanitizer in the winter.

All joking aside, have you ever accidentally gotten hand sanitizer in your mouth because you didn't get it all rubbed in? Yuck!

It smells repulsing as well.

Although, I guess many alcoholic beverages aren't pleasing to the palate.

Why are teens so desperate to get drunk? When I was younger, I was the one who had to babysit my drunken friends.

Surprisingly enough, alcohol doesn't make you more witty, dance better or any cooler. In fact, it does just the opposite.

Those kids who you thought were laughing with you while you performed those awesome dance moves? They are probably laughing at you.

Maybe teens now are too young too remember that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine thought everyone was enjoying her kick-and-thumb-pointing dance moves, when in reality they were really mocking her.

Teenagers should try to stay young while they can. Drinking doesn't make you look any older or cooler.

Plus, growing up is no picnic. All it takes is one drunken mistake for your life to take a wrong turn.

Teenage weekends should be full of country cruises, road trips, long talks and scary movie nights.

Some of my best memories from high school include gravel roads and too loud, corny love songs.

Sabrina is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. She can be reached by email at swestfall@gcdailyworld.com or by telephone at 847-4487.