inhalants and amarillo

The average age that kids in Amarillo first try inhalants is 10.8. An estimated 9% of teens in Amarillo have used inhalants. Typically, this is one of the first ways kids experiment with drugs.

Slang – sniffing, huffing

Inhalants are breathable chemical vapors that produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects. 

Types of inhalants include:

• Solvents - industrial or household solvents or solvent-containing products, including paint thinners or solvents, degreasers (dry-cleaning fluids), gasoline, and glues, art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip marker fluid, and electronic contact cleaners.
• Gases - gases used in household or commercial products, including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipping cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases.
• Household aerosol propellants and associated solvents in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, and fabric protector sprays.
• Medical anesthetic gases, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide (laughing gas) Nitrites
• Aliphatic nitrites, including cyclohexyl nitrite, which is available to the general public; amyl nitrite, which is available only by prescription; and butyl nitrite, which is now an illegal substance.

Because almost every home contains products with the potential for inhalant abuse, parents need to be aware of the dangers of inhaling these products and take action to protect their children.

Kids who inhale often

• Sniff or inhale them directly from the cans, bottles, or other containers they are in.
• Spray them into a bag, empty soft drink can, or other container and breathe them in.
• Spray or pour them onto a cloth or piece of clothing and inhale deeply from the fabric.

Another very real danger of inhalants is that they often lead young people to try other, more dangerous drugs. They can cause death by asphyxia, choking, injuries, suicides and cardiac arrest.

Signs of Use

Although different in makeup, nearly all abused inhalants produce effects similar to anesthetics, which act to slow down the body's functions.  When inhaled via the nose or mouth into the lungs in sufficient concentrations, inhalants can cause intoxicating effects.
 
Intoxication can last only a few minutes or several hours if inhalants are taken repeatedly.  Initially, users may feel slightly stimulated.  With successive inhalations, they may feel less inhibited and less in control.  Finally, a user can lose consciousness.

Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death.  This is especially common from the abuse of fluorocarbons and butane-type gases.

Short-term effects of inhalants: headaches, stomachaches, tingling in the hands and feet, confusion, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, runny nose & redness, loss of the sense of smell, mood swings, apathy, forgetfulness.

High concentrations of inhalants also cause death from suffocation by displacing oxygen in the lungs and then in the central nervous system so that breathing ceases.
 
Other irreversible effects caused by inhaling specific solvents

• Hearing loss - toluene (paint sprays, glues, dewaxers) and trichloroethylene (cleaning fluids, correction fluids)
• Peripheral neuropathies or limb spasms - hexane (glues, gasoline) and nitrous oxide (whipping cream, gas cylinders)
• Central nervous system or brain damage - toluene (paint sprays, glues, dewaxers)
• Bone marrow damage - benzene (gasoline).
  

What Parents Should Do

Talk with your child about not experimenting with inhalants. Discuss this problem openly and stress the devastating consequences of inhalant abuse. Be alert for symptoms and signs of inhalant abuse. If you suspect there's a problem, seek professional help immediately.