Deadly game growing popular among

pre-teens, teens

AMANDA FINNEGAN STAFFWRITER

AJF724@CABRINI EDU

Adangerous trend called “the choking game” is growing within teen circles and is claiming young lives.

T he choking game, also nicknamed “Space Monkey” or “Black Hole,” is most popular among middle-schoolers. Kids choke one another with a rope, belt or even their bare hands and loosen the grip once they begin to lose consciousness, triggering a head rush. When the supply of oxygen is cut off to t he brain and then s uddenly rushes back, it creates a risky high.

By cutting of the source of oxygen and blood t o the brain, the choking game can lead to brain damage and death. Many of the deaths are initially misdiagnosed as suicides until friends of the deceased come forward and speak up about the taboo game.

ized how much damage it could have caused,” Moore said.

This deadly pass out game claimed the life of 13-year-old Kodee Alcott of Delaware Valley, Pa. in March 2005. Trina Alcott, the mother of the young teen, found her son hanging in their basement. Alcott was an althete and good student. His parents never saw the warning signs.

Dr. Chris Fariello of the Council for Relationships, who was interviewed by “CBS 3 News,” said that “good” kids are drawn to the c hoking game. “Kids don’t see this as something bad, again i t’s not a drug, it’s not alcohol, they haven’t been brainwashed t o believe that this is something they shouldn’t do,” Fariello said.