Say hello to my little FREND.
IT'S… it's The NOSE.
And you know what?
It doesn't want any of those things that you're trying to sniff up there.
Stop it.
Insufflation or the act of inhaling something through the nose is an ancient practice; Google's
NGram viewer finds references to insufflation all the way back to the late-1600s when the
term was coined.
Insufflation is even part of some religious ceremonies,, and was probably a way to consume
tobacco before we learned to dry and smoke it.
Even though it's harmful, snorting is pervasive in our culture.
It's so visible, a third grader was suspended in Atlanta for snorting crushed up candies
back in 2013.
And recently, powdered alcohol, or "palcohol," was legalized for sale in the U.S.; and there
are concerns people will begin snorting that too!
Though according to the company's website, it would take an hour to snort enough powder
to equal one shot of vodka.
Even chocolatiers of today advertise the ability to snort their cocoa!
For when ingesting something isn't enough, people tend to follow their nose; why is that?
Well, the nose is a hole in the front of your skull with a bone at the top and cartilage
at the bottom.
It's divided by the nasal septum.
Behind the nose are four sinus chambers which together are pretty large -- an average of
15 cubic centimeters.
They extend as far back as your throat, and contains folds of bone and cartilage called
turbinates to increase the surface area of the mucous membrane which lines the whole
internal structure.
The membrane is densely packed with blood cells, which is why when you snort something
things get a little crazy.
When a drug, like cocaine for instance, is mixed with hydrochloric acid, it turns into
a salt powder, which can then be sniffed or snorted.
When the fine powder hits the mucous membranes it adheres to the membrane and is absorbed
by the bloodstream.
Once there, it heads from the nose down to the heart, then to the lungs to get oxygenated;
once oxygenated that blood goes back to the heart and then all over the body.
Though popular legend is snorting is the quickest high, smoking is actually quicker, because
the breath which oxygenates the blood carries with it the chemical compounds; cutting out
the trip from nose, to heart, to lungs.
The problem with snorting ANYTHING is the nose didn't evolve to process physical particles
of that size and absorb them.
It's sort of a body hack.
Over time, the mucous membranes wear down and stop humidifying air before it enters
the body.
Even something as harmless as chocolate can cause scarring and damage.
Continued use of cocaine causes perforations of the nasal septum -- the bridge that holds
up the nose -- sores in the membrane, chest infections, and of course nosebleeds, colds,
inflammation and, if it gets worse, the collapse of the nose itself,; not to mention a cocaine
addiction.
You can even lose your sense of smell altogether.
If the tissue dies, flies can lay eggs and produce nasal maggots -- which CAN live in
the sinuses feed on the dead flesh -- though doctors admit that
it extremely rare.