Something new for parents to freak out about

One track is supposed to make you feel like you're on peyote. Another one is supposed to give you the feeling of smoking marijuana...

The CD goes for about $20 dollars online from a company called I-Doser.com, which has no address or contact number. On the CD case, the makers explain how it works: binaural sound waves that synchronize your brain giving you the sensation of a drug high.

Taking a tour of the I-Doser.com web site, I'm immediately struck by what a sophisticated little con this seems to be. Understanding full well that kids who can't actually find drugs will try anything they think might get them high, I-Doser.com offers some kind of PC application for free, and then sells "doses" - MP3s that purport to change your mind state and give you effects similar to the drugs the "doses" are named after. From the I-Doser FAQ:

Each audio track contains our advanced binaural beats that will synchronize your brainwaves to the same state as the recreational dose. Mixed with our advanced auditory pulses are soothing backtracks of ambient soundscapes to help the brain induce of state of mood lift, euphoria, sedation, and hallucination...

I-Doser has forums that include riveting testimonials from apparent users, including, for instance:

I have noticed that the longer you use it the more intense each dose is. But that is the problem, I took Vicoden this morning and now its basically the evening and the effects are still there. I feel as if i am "zoneing out" all the time and if i close my eyes i start to get dizzy, and weirdly enough for me is that i am in a really happy laughing sort of mood which i never normally am. I am just worried that this wont go away. Has anyone else taken a dose and the effects have lasted this long?

And of course, from this user of "crystal meth":

I felt I could control the speed of the pulses/Waves...
It was amazing... other than the fact I fell face first on the floor afterwards.

Naturally this has got parents up in arms. No, really! Despite the fact that the news story quotes a doctor as saying, "Music will never, never make you hallucinate," parents are worried because, whether these binaural "doses" work or not... you guessed it... they could be a gateway drug!

"Well I think it's very, very easy for kids to say I may get this from the CD but I may very well actually get it from the real drug and go out and use," said Dr. Petros Levounis.

Could it be the new gateway drug? A legal CD available to anyone with access to the Internet? Whatever the case, it's an alert for all parents.

Here's another alert for all parents: local news is likely to cause severe brain atrophy. At any rate, we can't let some local ABC affiliate have the last word on this topic. Despite the obvious scam potential baked into the very premise, we nevertheless encourage you to try out the company's free sample "doses" and report back. Maybe, through the power of "willing suspension of disbelief," you too could control sound waves and fall right on your face.