But these activities, which are useful to the community, have nothing in common with the new music drugs that, via headphones, channel users’ brain waves into states that simulate intoxication. So-called I-Dosers, applications aimed at encouraging the consumption of virtual drugs, bear highly promising names suggesting guaranteed success. They go by names such as “weed”, “coke” and “heroin” and can, for example, be downloaded via iTunes. This digital state of intoxication via a headset is said to be induced by means of pulsating sounds and rhythmic impulses. The constant feeding of electric currents in the form of rhythmic, monotonous inputs can then lead to a kind of shorting of the brain’s circuits. This gives the user the kind of feelings that simulate the consumption of drugs such as ecstasy or heroin. The producers of these sound files claim that they can imitate the effects of different intoxicants – an assertion that is more than daring. After all, it does not seem possible that anybody could be in a position to transfer the specific effect of a drug to certain sequences of sounds and frequencies.

• Part 1: The new kick from audio files. Are virtual drugs dangerous?
• Part 2: Fashion or gateway drug?
• Part 3: Staatliche Institutionen involviert