More than 15 students at a Mexican school received medical treatment on January 30 after they overdosed on anxiety medication as a part of a TikTok challenge called the “tranquilizer challenge.”
It happened in Guanajuato, a city in central Mexico. Just a few days earlier, health authorities had issued a warning to parents about the dangerous internet challenge sweeping through various countries.
The kids were very young, preteens in the fifth and sixth grades. They were doing the stunt, called “tranq challenge,” in the school. The challenge dares users to take the anxiety subscription drugs Klonopin or Clonazepam, and try to stay awake as long as they can.
The last person to fall asleep after taking the medication is declared the winner.
The Mayor of Guanajuato, Alejandro Navarro, said that the students received treatment at the school and reportedly some were hospitalized.
Following the incident, Mayor Navarro again warned parents to be more cautious about what their kids are doing on the internet.
It is unclear where the students got the drugs.
It’s the fourth school in Mexico to be adversely affected by the challenge. Two weeks ago, eight middle school students in Mexico City became sick after overdosing on Clonazepam.
A 12-year-old girl in Argentina died last month after participating in a different dangerous challenge on TikTok, where kids try to choke themselves until they pass out.
TikTok is facing lawsuits in the United States after two girls in California died after they hung themselves while watching videos about the “blackout challenge” on the platform.
