# Can you get drunk on Listerine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 3, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903 "2017-10-03T23:34:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/21 "2020-01-05T09:56:23Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > I know this is a two year old post… but I always assumed that hand sanitizer was _methyl_ alcohol. You learn something new every day. (It’s certainly safer, if someone really wanted to misuse hand sanitizer.) My wife works at a hospital and often deals with addicts. Severe alcoholics stealing sanitisers containing alcohol is a problem. The police will bring in destitute people who’ve passed out in public. When they wake up, they’ll try to sneak away from the Emergency Department and find alcohol. Hand sanitiser is usually the first thing they come across. It’s been reported in the news. > **[Gang 'raided London hospitals for alcoholic hand gel'](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33983172)** > > A street drinker who nearly died from drinking alcoholic hand wash reveals how his gang systematically raided hospitals for the fluid - as Freedom of Information requests reveal a London-wide problem. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/22 "2020-01-05T20:41:50Z")
A couple months ago, I was prescribed Peridex after a dental procedure. There was an issue with the pharmacy’s system so they couldn’t even receive the scrip, so I decided I needed something antibacterial, and the only stuff I could find was Listerine and its clones (I gather there are alcohol-free antibacterials, but that store didn’t have them). I went home, attempted to swish some around my mouth, and spat it out in horror. My tongue felt like it was on fire. Yes, there’s enough alcohol in the stuff that you could become intoxicated, but I truly cannot imagine drinking it voluntarily unless I was in a position of “needing to” (DTs etc. as others have mentioned). ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/23 "2020-01-05T22:55:21Z")
At a local California WalMart - cost of pure alcohol per product, sales tax included. Wally’s mouthwash: 46 cents per ounce Cheapest vodka, 1.5 liters: 91 cents Franzia box wine, 5 liters: 96 cents If you can stomach it, generic mouthwash is cheapest. Next: Who gets knocked out with NyQuil? (Fondly remembered from Basic Training days.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/24 "2020-01-06T01:06:07Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > … Next: Who gets knocked out with NyQuil? (Fondly remembered from Basic Training days.) Thoughtfully packaged with its own shotglass. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/25 "2020-01-06T04:01:46Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > A couple months ago, I was prescribed Peridex after a dental procedure. There was an issue with the pharmacy’s system so they couldn’t even receive the scrip, so I decided I needed something antibacterial, and the only stuff I could find was Listerine and its clones (I gather there are alcohol-free antibacterials, but that store didn’t have them). > > I went home, attempted to swish some around my mouth, and spat it out in horror. My tongue felt like it was on fire. > > Yes, there’s enough alcohol in the stuff that you could become intoxicated, but I truly cannot imagine drinking it voluntarily unless I was in a position of “needing to” (DTs etc. as others have mentioned). Listerine does have ethanol, but not enough to be an adequate bactericide in itself; instead, it’s there to dissolve the real killers, which are generally regarded as rendering the stuff undrinkable. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/26 "2020-01-06T13:01:39Z")
The very idea makes one want to retch. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/27 "2020-01-06T17:58:01Z")
We used to drink lemon extract mixed with water when we were kids, it was over 90% pure alcohol. I was very hard to keep down. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/28 "2020-01-06T20:01:48Z")
One of my troops in the Navy had a booze problem, staying up until way late drinking and then showing up to work under the influence. He knew I was on to him, so he started drinking Listerine on the way in to work to mask the odor of the booze. Problem for him was that I have an extremely sensitive sense of smell and could still pick up on the booze. It didn’t end well. ---
**Author:** ![KMS94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ad7895/32.png) [@KMS94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KMS94)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/29 "2020-01-06T20:53:50Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > An alcoholic neighbor described to me a night with his friend, who was drinking mouthwash. I asked why and was told “It’s easier to shoplift”. When I was a law enforcement officer, the municipality I worked in seemed to have an outbreak of juveniles shoplifting vanilla extract come up every couple of years. The US FDA requires 35% alcohol content to be labeled as “pure” vanilla extract, and they’re quite easy to pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/30 "2020-01-07T14:23:26Z")
I know that Lysol has been consumed as an intoxicant - In downtown Calgary on a Saturday or Sunday morning you’d occasionally find empty, twisted cans of the stuff on the street. Once, I did see an empty bottle of Aqua Velva next to an empty can of Lysol. I can’t imagine how disgusting either of those must taste. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/31 "2020-01-07T14:33:07Z")
According to an episode of _Intervention_ I watched years ago, you certainly can. This woman was a Sunday school teacher with 3 young kids and a severe alcohol dependency. She was banned from every liquor store in town or something (I might be making up that part) so the only alcohol she could get her hands on was mouthwash. One scene she’s supposed to pick up her kids or something but she’s passed out on her front lawn, clutching a bottle of generic mouthwash like a teddy bear. It was one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen on that show, and that show is _nothing but_ the world’s most fucked up people. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/32 "2020-01-07T17:36:56Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I know that Lysol has been consumed as an intoxicant - In downtown Calgary on a Saturday or Sunday morning you’d occasionally find empty, twisted cans of the stuff on the street. Once, I did see an empty bottle of Aqua Velva next to an empty can of Lysol. I can’t imagine how disgusting either of those must taste. About 30 years ago I lived in a small apartment downtown Salt Lake City. I was sitting out front with the hose running on the front lawn when a couple homeless people politely ask me if they could use my water hose. They rinsed out an empty milk jug, punctured a can of aquanet hairspray, held the puncture over the opening of the milk jug, then filled the jug the rest of the way with water. Dud looked at me, grinned and said: “Gonna get fucked up tonight!” before taking a swig off the jug. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903/33 "2020-01-08T01:58:52Z")
> [@KMS94](#): > > When I was a law enforcement officer, the municipality I worked in seemed to have an outbreak of juveniles shoplifting vanilla extract come up every couple of years. The US FDA requires 35% alcohol content to be labeled as “pure” vanilla extract, and they’re quite easy to pocket. They made the big bottles illegal here. The most you can get in ordinary shops is about ?? 1/4 pint. It’s interesting how they’ve handled different related problems. Spray paint and picnic knives\* and cigarettes and liquor can’t be sold to kids: spray paint and cigarettes are locked up, liquor and knives are blocked at the point of sale, vanilla has a bottle size regulation. \*plastic knives were affected by a general ban on selling ‘knifes’ to children. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-drunk-on-listerine/797903.md?page=1)