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Boofing is the act of anal-inserting alcohol through the rectum. It is also known as the “butt chug,” booty bumping, and booty beer. Although boofing is often associated with fraternities and college-aged men, it is a behavior that can apply to anyone.
Technically, boofing alcohol is little more than people giving themselves or others alcohol enemas. However, the truth is that boofing alcohol comes with serious risks.
So, why exactly would a person use an alcohol enema? What else should you know?
Find Addiction Rehabs helps clients nationwide find reliable treatment for substance use disorders and mental health conditions, including alcohol abuse.
Keep reading to learn more about why people insert alcohol anally and the risks you should be aware of if it’s a behavior you or someone in your life is engaged in.
There are a few reasons why someone might boof alcohol. Usually, when people favor boofing alcohol and other drugs over oral consumption, it’s because it leads to rapid intoxication.
This may seem strange to some, but it does make sense. When you drink alcohol, about 20 percent is absorbed by the stomach and another 80 percent travels through the small intestine.
In turn, inserting alcohol through the rectum means that you feel drunk faster and with less alcohol. Some people see this as a way to save money or get the effects of the active ingredient in alcohol, ethanol (ETOH), without oral ingestion.
Since boofing alcohol is a more unusual route of consuming alcohol, you may not be aware of the harm it can cause. While this method can result in quick intoxication, there are risks involved every single time you use alcohol anally. Here are three of them.
The human body is a miraculous system. One that usually works incredibly well when not exposed to trauma and unexpected or unintended experiences. To put it simply, the potential physical trauma associated with boofing alcohol is serious and has severe implications.
On the lowest end of the spectrum of what may go wrong, there’s the risk of abrasions and tearing of the muscles and tissues of the rectum. This can affect the normal operation of your typical bowel movement as well. The delicate tissue in the area may become painful.
There can be an obstruction of blood flow and danger to the proper functioning of the blood vessels in the area as well as potentially cellular death. Ulcers, abscesses, and long-term inflammation are all possible when you use butt chugging to consume any drug.
A big risk of boofing alcohol is alcohol poisoning, also known as an overdose. Since the alcohol is entering directly into your bloodstream without being metabolized by your liver and digestive tract, you’re at a greater risk of alcohol poisoning.
Because of how quickly you can become intoxicated, you’re likely to be less aware of how drunk you are getting and may not be able to stop yourself before it’s too late. Additionally, if you boof alcohol, you cannot throw it up. While vomiting isn’t fun, it can be protective against alcohol poisoning.
Alcohol overdose can be life-threatening. It occurs when there’s so much alcohol in the bloodstream that parts of your brain controlling basic functions, like breathing, start to shut down. Even if it doesn’t kill you, an overdose can result in health effects like permanent brain damage.
Sharing boofing equipment can increase your risk of infections. If you use the same equipment as someone with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis, or chlamydia, you can catch them.
You can catch these STIs even if you do not engage in anal sex. It can be uncomfortable to learn about this possibility, but it is crucial that you know the risks and can use harm reduction if you need to.
Some people do not know that they have an STI. So, sharing equipment with someone who says they don’t have one doesn’t mean that you won’t get an STI.
It is true that alcohol can be absorbed more quickly through the stomach than through digestion alone due to a phenomenon known as first-pass metabolism. That is, some of alcohol’s breakdown occurs before it ever reaches the small intestine.
This is why drinking an alcoholic beverage on an empty stomach will cause its effects to be felt more quickly than they would otherwise be. It’s also why people who use injections or rectal administration as a route to intoxication get more intoxicated (and more rapidly).
Using an alcohol enema as a method of consumption bypasses the systems in place that slow down and protect the speed and potency with which we tend to feel the effects of consumption.
In short, the inhalation of alcohol into the rectum and colon allows alcohol to bypass the normal processes that would occur in the digestive system when you drink it. When ingested anally, alcohol enters your bloodstream in a more concentrated form.
Aside from the obvious risk of suffering an overdose, one of the largest dangers of consuming alcohol through the rectum lies in the potential impact on behavioral health and addiction. We know that the experience of boofing is much more intense than consuming alcoholic beverages orally.
Alcohol addiction is one of the most common types of substance use disorders. As of 2023, over 10% of people aged 12+ in the United States had alcohol use disorder in the past year. If you’re boofing alcohol and feel like you can’t stop or are using it to get more intense effects, it could be a sign of addiction.
No matter how you consume the drug, excessive alcohol consumption can come with tremendous risks.
Even in the short term, excessive use can result in various effects on your health. These include but aren’t limited to motor-vehicular accidents, violence, and injury. People who are pregnant or may become pregnant face the risk of miscarage, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or stillbirth.
Similarly, alcohol poisoning can occur at any point in time. Since ingesting alcohol can make a person particularly prone to overdose, this is something to look out for. If you mix alcoholic drinks or boof while using other drugs, your overdose risk increases further.
Addiction is a disease that can worsen as time goes on if it goes untreated. Long-term alcohol abuse or addiction can contribute not just to physical harm, but to unfavorable consequences associated with other parts of your life. For example:
Alcoholism also results in a weaker immune system. Generally, substance abuse puts people at a greater risk of multitude of other illnesses and difficult life circumstances that can wreak havoc on overall health and quality of life.
Whether it’s drinking alcohol orally or using alcohol enemas, the truth is that alcohol consumption has the potential to spiral out of control into a full-blown substance abuse disorder. This is where addiction treatment comes into play.
Detox helps you get through withdrawal symptoms. In some cases, alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous without medical supervision and treatment. For example, those where a person is at risk of alcohol withdrawal delirium.
For this reason, seeking detox services can be a crucial first step in the treatment process. That said, detox doesn’t address the underlying causes of alcohol addiction. Seeking long-term therapy and support is the ideal next step after alcohol detox.
Inpatient alcohol rehab programs provide comprehensive care for addiction in a supervised, substance-free environment. These programs usually last for around 30-90 days. While you’re in an inpatient alcohol rehab program, you’ll live on-site at a treatment center.
Clients in these programs follow all-day treatment schedules and build healthy routines with the help of staff members. Amenities like private rooms, transportation services, and exercise equipment are often available.
Some inpatient rehabs offer special accommodations, such as access to electronics.
Outpatient alcohol rehab programs let you get therapy during the day while living at home. Some people are able to start with an outpatient rehab program. Others step down to this type of program for ongoing therapy following inpatient alcohol rehab.
Some outpatient programs for addiction are more time-consuming than others. Options like an intensive outpatient program (IOP) will often allow clients the time necessary to fulfill obligations, like work, while participating in therapy sessions during the day.
Many with alcohol use disorder who try to cut back on their drinking find that their dependency has grown to the point where they cannot do so on their own. Evidence-based alcohol detox and addiction treatment programs use effective treatment methods that can help you recover.
Find Addiction Rehabs will help you locate programs that provide the necessary tools and support that allow you or your loved one to recover safely. No matter the severity level, healing is possible. Our track record of satisfied clients speaks volumes.
If you or someone you know is boofing alcohol or is engaging in alcohol abuse in any other way, we’re here to help. Contact our recovery representatives now to explore your treatment options, get help with insurance coverage, or find answers to your questions about overcoming alcohol abuse.
“Boofing” is a slang term. It can refer to using any illicit drugs anally (not just alcohol).
You may experience a burning sensation, discomfort, and cramping when using an alcohol enema.
Using safer methods of consumption is a potential form of harm reduction for people who use alcohol enemas. This will not prevent any of the other health risks associated with alcohol.
Alcohol flush is not directly dangerous. However, experiencing this effect is associated with some additional health risks, interestingly enough. This includes a higher risk of some types of cancer.
Yes. It is rare, but you can die from using an alcohol enema.
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