Mexico warns of tranquilizer craze on social media

The alert came a week after eight students at a Mexico City middle school were treated after taking a “controlled drug”. Some have been hospitalized.

The department has warned against the “last to fall asleep wins” social media challenge, calling it dangerous.

“The appeal is also made to children and adolescents not to participate in or promote challenges that put their lives at risk,” the department wrote.

The second school in as many days was hit on Thursday by the massive ingestion of tranquilizer pills which may be linked to the social media ‘challenge’.

Earlier last week, three students at another college near the northern city of Monterrey were treated for doses of clonazepam.

In 2022, five students at a college near the western city of Guadalajara were treated for consuming what state governor Enrique Alfaro described as “a powerful tranquilizer”.