Illegal Tanning Drug Will Make You Dark, Skinny And Vomity

Some “tanorexics” have taken to injecting themselves with an illegal drug called Melanotan in order to get the enviable radioactive sheen. Nicknamed the “Barbie Drug,” Melanotan has never undergone regulated testing, nor has it been studied in terms of what the possible long-term effects of the drug - like skin problems - might be.

The drug was first developed here in the U.S. during the 1980 - a time when we were experimenting other dangerous, toxic trends like coke use and bike shorts. Melanotan is a synthetic version of hormone that produces more melanin in skin, resulting in a darker tan.

Doctors fear that drug may activate melanocytes in the skin, which can become cancerous, resulting in malignant melanoma. But what’s a little skin cancer when you look like a glorious used condom left out in the sun? 

What is known about the drug is that is causes myriad short-term side-effects like lack of appetite (leaving you both orange and thin, hence “Barbie Drug”), panic attacks, depression, nausea, elevated blood pressure and facial flushing. Here we thought the last one was just wishful thinking on our part. 

Women (and some men, we suppose) who use the drug seem to be in denial about its possible health risks, or are simply willing to take that change in order to maintain their unearthly tangerine sheen. Says Vicky, a British waitress:

I feel fine using these jabs. I want to look my best at parties in strappy evening dresses and these tanning jabs give me the best colour I’ve ever had. Far from doing me any harm, in these dark, wintry days, seeing myself glowing with health has given me a fantastic boost. 

I bumped into a friend and she looked really well. She looked so tanned and healthy, as if she’d been on a cruise. I couldn’t believe it when she said she hadn’t been away at all. It was then she told me about these tanning jabs and when she got me some from a website, I decided to give them a go. I didn’t bother to find out much about them, and I certainly didn’t know it was illegal to sell them. 

Within a week I’d developed the type of tan that before I could only dream about — really dark brown, golden and very natural looking. Everyone is asking where I’ve been on holiday. 

Well, you know. Being in a glamour profession like waitressing and all… People can currently buy the unlicensed drug online, where it is touted as being sold for “research purposes.” 

Women who have used the drug complain of experiencing such symptoms as splitting headaches, stomach pain and “six-hour spats of vomiting.” So why put up with it? We’ve always been confused by the notion that “regular people” feel the need to emulate celebrities, undergoing expensive and time-consuming treatments like fake tanning, hair extensions, tooth whitening, anal bleaching… you name it. Couple this with a society that rewards - and expects - women to look “pefect,” plus penchant for quick-fixes and instant gratification, and you get a gaggle of nauseous orange cubicle-dwellers and middle-aged waitresses wondering what went wrong.

Thousands of women are injecting illegal instant tan drug that could wreck their health [Daily Mail]