Jenkem

The second media description of jenkem came from an Inter Press Service wire report in 1995.[4] According to a 1998 report in The New York Times, Fountain of Hope, a non-profit organization, said that jenkem was used by street children in Lusaka, Zambia, to obtain a "powerful high".[11] In 2002, Project Concern International Zambia and Fountain of Hope released a report entitled "Rapid Assessment of Street Children In Lusaka", where jenkem is listed as the third most popular drug among Lusaka's street children, following Dagga (Cannabis) and "glue and Dagga" but ahead of "Ballan" (uncured tobacco) and petrol.[12] John C. Zulu, director of the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development in Zambia, said in November 2007 that jenkem usage is less common than glue-sniffing and, "Initially, they used to get it from the sewer, but they make it anywhere ... They say it keeps them warm and makes them fearless."[7] In 1999, BBC News ran a story about jenkem.[3] In 2004, South African weekly investigative newspaper Mail & Guardian mentioned jenkem abuse in a report on Zambia's street children.[13]

On September 26, 2007, the Sheriff's Department of Collier County, Florida issued an internal bulletin about jenkem based on a TOTSE internet forum post by user "Pickwick", which included purported photos of the manufacture and use.[6] "Pickwick" confessed it was a hoax around the time of the internal bulletin.[14] In November of that year, officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration said no reports of jenkem use had been confirmed in the United States.[15]

After initially classifying stories of Western jenkem use as "undetermined", Snopes quickly reclassified it as "false". About.com also concluded reports were "based on faulty Internet research".[8] The Smoking Gun stated the Collier County alert "may be full of shit".[16] Drug research site Erowid reported, "the jenkem stories that have been circulating in the U.S. media are almost certainly the strange result of a hoax."[17]

Jenkem use was reported uncritically by KIMT of Mason City, Iowa,[18] WIFR-TV in Rockford, Illinois,[19] and WINK NEWS Fort Myers, Florida.[20] Washington Post columnist Emil Steiner reported that "a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) insists that 'there are people in America trying [jenkem],'" which the DEA agent characterized as "dangerous, bad and stupid."[21] Fox News ran the story after the Steiner Washington Post column, mentioning Pickwick's hoax and retraction.[22] In the same article, a Washington D.C. DEA spokesman, Garrison Courtney, specified that, "We wouldn't classify it as a drug so much because it's feces and urine." UK technology tabloid website The Register concluded that "the jury's out."[23] ABC News interviewed DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney, who stated that, "It is in Africa, we know that... We've heard rumors and speculation about it here, but part of looking for trends is listening first for speculation. It is something we want to keep on top of."[15]

WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana advised parents to "wait up for [their children] at night and not let their kids go to bed until they have seen them and smelled their breath."[24] Austin, Texas NBC affiliate KXAN-TV interviewed a local teen, whose parent speculated on its use: "Once it becomes OK with a certain group of adolescents, it becomes OK with a lot more."[25] Australian broadcaster ninemsn summarized American news reports.[26] A syndicated report published on the web pages of CBS affiliate CBS-47 and Fox affiliate Fox 30, both in Jacksonville, Florida, reported on jenkem and also referred to it by the slang term "butt hash", citing media reports from the Washington Post, the Drudge Report, and Inside Edition. This was also followed up by a Fox 30 televised news segment, in which Captain Tim Guerrette of the Collier County Sheriff's department was interviewed.[27] A Florida syndicated newspaper article focused on the leaked police memo and included interviews with DEA spokesman Rusty Payne, the Palmetto Ridge High School principal, and a spokeswoman for the Collier County Health Department.[28]

Jamie Pietras of the Salon website published a long piece on jenkem in 2007.[7] Pietras interviewed a Zambian government official on ways to curtail use and also focused on the Western media scare. Pietras interviewed researcher Earth Erowid of Erowid, and Jag Davies, the communications director for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), neither of whom could provide any confirmation of its use in America. Partnership for a Drug-Free America public affairs representative Candice Besson also stated that PDFA had not previously heard about the drug.

The Enterprise Ledger of Enterprise, Alabama, quoted a local narcotics investigator who believed it was being used in Coffee County, Alabama.[29] A commentary in The Times-Reporter of Dover-New Philadelphia, Ohio, said jenkem was "largely debunked", but that "someone will be stupid enough to try it."[30] The story was also covered with varying degrees of skepticism in The Orange County Register,[31] Evansville, Indiana, Fox affiliate WTVW,[32] and Wichita, Kansas, CBS affiliate KWCH-TV.[33]

In 2009, Bettendorf, Iowa, amended its city ordinance regarding illegal inhalants to include organic substances.[34][35] In 2010, an apartment building in Fort Pierce, Florida, was condemned after police found leaking containers of human waste in a unit. One police official speculated the tenant was manufacturing jenkem.[36][37]