What Happens If You Snort Asbestos and Other Random Things You Shouldn't?

It’s one of those age-old conundrums, this: What would happen to us if we, say, accidentally caned a fat line of asbestos? Like what would actually happen? That’s one hypothetical that, for one Redditor at least, isn’t so hypothetical at all. You see, this guy’s mate accidentally “ripped” a line of it at a house party, and judging by the 300+ comments on the now-viral post, the expectations for survival were pretty low. 

But is that right? Does snorting an asbestos slug actually kill you, and if so, how and when? And then we started thinking: Well, what about other non-recreational drug substances, what would happen if you sniffed those? Like coffee – would you get a little buzz on? Or what happens if a phony dealer pulls a fast one and you end up railing a line of sugar or salt? 

Then there’s a whole heap of everyday snortables we can think of, which bored teenagers the world over have probably tried shovelling up their noses. So we figured we’d get in touch with Florian Bast, an actual ENT doctor, in order to get our wildest nasal passage-related questions answered. (FYI, the Redditor’s mate is apparently fine – for now, at least.) 

VICE: Hi Florian! Thanks for agreeing to chat with me about snorting everyday substances. Seems like the nose is a wonderful thing!
Florian Bast: The nose is used routinely for many kinds of different medications because we all know that via the nasal mucosa absorption is really rapid. It's quite convenient to use it – you don't have to swallow a pill, and you don't have the systemic side effects. So if I take, for example, a steroid nasal spray, I don't have the systemic side effects I would have if I take an oral steroid. The other thing is we inhale, every day, tonnes of polluted air, especially living in London. So the nose is used to quite a lot of permanent damage. 

So, should we start with asbestos? 
It’s known that asbestos has carcinogenic properties. It’s more that when asbestos fibres get into the lungs, then you can potentially develop asbestosis – or you can even develop lung cancer or mesothelioma, which is also a type of cancer. We all know that buildings that have asbestos in it have to be renewed so that the asbestos is taken out. When you snort pure asbestos, in a high concentration, you can potentially speed up this process, but the process to develop any side effects of inhaled asbestos is normally quite slow. So directly snorting asbestos can potentially increase the risk of getting lung cancer etc., but to predict an exact timeline, or predict when death kicks in, that's just not possible.

OK so, potentially survivable, could we say?
Oh yeah, definitely. You can inhale a significantly higher amount orally than snorting it, because the nose is a filter organism. I can't tell you exactly how much would get in from an inhaled line of asbestos or how much exactly would reach the lungs where it could damage the respiratory epithelium and could potentially lead to lung cancer. It’s a difficult question. 

Alright, so the next one is salt.
Salt is not a hazardous substance like asbestos. If you snort it, you definitely don't die, but you can have significant discomfort in the nasal passage, including nasal bleeding and pain. It can irritate the cartilage and potentially lead to slightly longer infections in the nasal cavity. But just inhaling salt is not [causing] bleeding to death, definitely not.

OK. Sugar?
Same for sugar. Again, it can potentially cause local infections, nasal discomfort bleeding, breathing difficulties etc., but that's it.

Next one’s flour. 
Yeah, so the son of a friend of mine in Germany, for carnival he went as part of the couple from Pulp Fiction. They snorted flour pretending it was cocaine. They got nasal infections.

Flour can do that?
Flour can, because it dries out the nose and then you've got this crusty stuff in the nose, and that can lead to an infection. If you inhale huge amounts, and flour reaches the lungs, you can potentially develop a condition called aspiration pneumonia. But you have to inhale large amounts and the stuff has to reach the lungs. So the son of my friend, he just had local problems and he just used a saline washes and then everything was fine.

The next one is drywall.
Drywall or any other construction materials, they have various other parts in it like silicas, and they can be harmful to the skin. This stuff is normally quite sharp-edged, so when you inhale it can lead to abrasive irritation of the endonasal mucosa, and this can lead to bleeding and local inflammations.

So the next one is concrete powder. One of my colleagues suggested it could potentially dry and set on contact with moisture?!
Yeah, exactly. So if you have a lot of stuff it can potentially dry out, or, with contact of the nasal mucus, it can then harden and potentially block the nasal airway.

Could you die from that?
You have to inhale a lot. If just the nasal cavity is blocked, you still have the oral cavity to breathe, so I think you won't die of an immediate obstructive airway. Again, concrete can potentially cause other lung diseases. For example, silicosis – that's also a disease you can get if you inhale dust, and it can potentially be caused by concrete dust as well. But that's nothing that leads directly to any fatality. It's a long-going process.

Lemsip cold and flu powder?
Lemsip contains paracetamol and a bit of phenylephrine, so a vasoconstrictive substance. It's not just a foreign body, this is an active medication. It can lead to inflammation, discomfort, possible nosebleeds, but you don't know how much the uptake of paracetamol is. So you don't know how much really gets into your systemic blood flow, and this can potentially increase the risk of an overdose. A paracetamol overdose is a serious complication, it can be potentially fatal because it leads to liver damage. But you have to have a lot of this stuff in the nose. But I think snorting one of these capsules or one of the sachets is not causing problems.

The next one is snow.
I mean, snow is water – it's not toxic. It is possible to pick up snow somewhere in an urban environment that’s got dirt or dog pee in it. Then it’s a different story. But normally, just the cold stuff can lead to a bit of irritation. If you then swallow it, for example, it can potentially lead to a bit of irritation further down in the respiratory airway. But it’s very, very unlikely to cause any other massive symptoms.

OK, coffee?
If it’s ground coffee, it can lead to mucosal damage, inflammation, bleeding etc. It also potentially might lead to an intensive, quite rapid onset of the coffee effects. So it's possible that by snorting coffee powder, you have a higher dose in your systemic blood flow. But coffee toxicity is so, so high. You need so much of pure coffee, that also it's just not possible [to overdose].

Desert sand?
It has a lot of abrasive issues. When you breathe in, it can injure the endonasal mucosa. It can lead to low grade inflammations. If you would get it into your respiratory tract, then it can lead to foreign body reactions within the lungs, to pneumonia, etc. But that's it.

The last one is talcum powder.
This can lead to respiratory issues. Also, when you inhale these talc particles, they can also lead to inflammation, but mainly of the lung tissue. So it has to go via the nasal pathway, via the post-nasal space into your lungs, and then it can lead to quite severe impaired lung function. They can potentially be fatal… there's a condition called talcosis, so a talcum powder-induced inflammation of the nose. But again, this is almost the same as the asbestosis – this takes a long, long time to develop. And you have to inhale normally more talcum powder regularly to create this problem.

What's the most outlandish thing anyone's ever snorted up their nose that you’ve treated?
Besides any prescribed medications, cocaine is number one in the UK. Then, especially if you go to the kids, you find all kinds of foreign bodies that they put into their noses. I had a patient treated in Germany – she didn't like the width of her nose, so she used one of these super glues to narrow her nostrils by glueing them together, which is not a good idea. I have seen patients who want to prove to their friends that they’re hard, so they've put in chilli, spicy oils, everything into the nasal cavity. I've even seen patients snorting ants. I don't know what kick they get out of that but, yeah. 

@niche_t_