Pharming parties is a term describing alleged get-togethers where prescription drugs are exchanged and randomly ingested, in order to become intoxicated. The earliest mention of the term appears to have been in the March 8, 2002 issue of the newspaper Public Opinion (Chambersburg, PA), which said this was occurring "in some communities". The pharm party story has since spread to periodicals and television stations throughout the United States, including reputable, mainstream sources such as Time and The Washington Post.
"Fruit salad parties" were subsequently described in the Tucson Daily Citizen in 1969 and the American School Board Journal. The source for both articles was a registered nurse who had no practical experience with these parties but had reportedly heard about them from drug lecturers, law enforcement officials and prosecutors "throughout the United States." Reports on fruit salad parties continued into the early 1970s, appearing in the Charleston Daily Mail, Ohio's Coshocton Tribune, the Billings Gazette and Hayward, California's Daily Review, before ultimately petering out. The Daily Mail took a more literal approach to the rumors, describing the pills as being hidden inside fruit which students mixed into actual fruit salads.
Although studies show that as many as one in five teenagers have abused prescription medications, it is not clear whether parties specifically organized to exchange drugs contribute to this abuse. In March 2008, Shafer wrote, "I've failed to locate a single human source or article that documents a single such festivity, let alone proves that they're commonplace, as the media would have you believe." , Shafer has written eight columns
for Slate discussing and debunking pharm parties.
See also
- Cautionary tale
- Moral panic
- Urban legends about drugs