Students are getting drunk off vanilla extract, school warns

ATLANTA, Ga. -- High schoolers are using a popular baking ingredient to get drunk and it could be in your cabinet.

Grady High School in Atlanta said that some students are going to a grocery store and buying Trader Joe's Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract.

School officials issued a statement saying, "This is not an indictment of Trader Joe's at all, but parents please be aware that this product contains 35% alcohol and we have discovered that some students have consumed this intoxicant. Another thing to keep an eye out for."

According to the Atlantic Journal Constitution, the students mix it with coffee they buy at Starbucks and walk to school with a buzz.

To make pure vanilla extract, vanilla beans are steeped in ethyl alcohol and water. The solution is then bottled and sold.

A small bottle of this vanilla extract is 70 proof, which is a little less than a bottle of vodka.

In one case, a student at Grady ended up drunk and had to go to the emergency room.