Stoner Tries to Get High Off Stolen Brain's Embalming Fluid
He also named the stolen brain "Freddy."
Every pot smoker has experienced a weak batch of weed. Some resourceful users will sprinkle in other drugs for a stronger effect. Others will just smoke more. But Joshua Lee Long, a 26-year-old man from central Pennsylvania, just took DIY weed rescue to a new and unprecedented extreme by stealing a preserved brain and using its embalming fluid to get high.
He got arrested instead.
On Thursday, Long admitted to stealing a human brain and using the formaldehyde it was preserved in to soak his weed, in hopes that it would make it more potent, the Morning Call reports. His secret experiment was uncovered after his aunt found a department store shopping bag containing the human brain under the porch of their trailer. She promptly called the police, who charged Long with abuse of a corpse and conspiracy and put him in prison, where he is currently being held.
According to court records, Long knew it was illegal to have the brain — it’s thought to be stolen from a science classroom — but kept it anyway, spraying the formaldehyde-laden embalming fluid on his weed to make it more potent. The coroner who examined the brain determined that it was indeed a human brain, one that investigators later learned that Long had nicknamed Freddy.
As insane as Long’s experiment may seem, he is not the first to try and get high off of embalming solution, which, in addition to formaldehyde, also may contain methanol and ethanol. In particular, embalming fluid is known to be an especially good solvent for PCP — also known as angel dust — and the resulting solution has been used to soak cigarettes, which are later smoked as “fry,” “fry sticks,” or, aptly, “death sticks.”
But according to the drug resource website Erowid, “embalming fluid” might simply be another name for PCP. It’s possible that confused users, like Long, might smoke weed soaked in embalming fluid because they misunderstand the slang. “The syndrome of intoxication looks nearly identical to that seen following phencyclidine (PCP) use, with agitation, disorganized speech and thoughts, and diminished attention,” the website reports.
As of now, Long doesnt have a lawyer listed, so it’s not clear when he’ll be getting out of jail. Freddy’s whereabouts, on the other hand, remain unknown.
