Leave it up to Youth to Make Cinnamon Dangerous

Here’s another substance abuse fad to be aware of:  Taking the cinnamon challenge.  Even our governor, Pat Quinn,  got caught up in the challenge to down a teaspoonful of cinnamon in less than 60 seconds. He cheated, however, since the true challenge dictates that you do it without water, an impossible task. Videos showing teens spewing a cloud of cinnamon, gagging, hacking and spitting might at first seem funny, and many such videos have gone viral.  But what seems like a harmless prank, can in fact be quite harmful, and has led to hospitalizations for collapsed lungs and pneumonia.  So far, thankfully, there haven’t been any deaths.