Durgapur: The sudden spurt in the sale of flavoured condoms among a handful of youth residing here aroused the curiosity of a local shopkeeper who asked a young man, a regular customer at his shop about this strange addiction.
In response, the young man said, he regularly buys condoms to get intoxicated.
To everyone’s shock, in the past few days sale of flavoured condoms has drastically increased in various parts of Durgapur such as Durgapur City Center, Bidhannagar, Benachiti, and Muchipara, C Zone, A Zone. The rather bizarre occurrence has raised questions among all.
It goes without saying that the people of Durgapur are baffled after learning about this new “means” of addiction. Dheeman Mandal, who works at Durgapur Divisional Hospital, responded to the unusual fascination and told News18: “Condoms contain aromatic compounds. It breaks down to form alcohol. It is addictive. This aromatic compound is also found in dendrites glue. So many people use dendrite for addiction also.”
Analyzing this further, Durgapur RE College Model School Chemistry teacher Nurul Haque said, “The long-term soaking of condoms in hot water causes intoxication due to the breakdown of large organic molecules into alcoholic compounds.”
Shopkeepers of a medical shop in Durgapur say: “Earlier 3 to 4 packets of condoms were sold per shop per day. And now a pack of condoms is disappearing from a store.”
