Inhalants, solvents and glues are most commonly abused by younger teens and tweens — the average age is 12 years old. Experts admit that those who use these substances habitually are more likely to try harder drugs. Teens are nonchalant and ignorant of exactly what they’re inhaling, with potentially fatal consequences.

Common Street Terms: Air blast, bolt, boppers, buzz bomb, climax, glading, hippie crack, kick, medusa, moon gas, oz, poor man’s pot, poppers, quick silver, rush, shoot the breeze, dusting.

Commonly Abused Inhalants Are In YOUR House

glues, nail polish remover, nail polish, lighter fluid, spray paints, aerosol deodorant and hair sprays, whipped cream canisters, cleaning fluids, paint thinners and removers, dry-cleaning fluids, degreasers, gasoline, correction fluids, felt-tip markers, ether, chloroform, halothane, nitrous oxide (laughing gas)

The Chemicals Involved…

(These lists are not exhaustive, but give parents an idea of just how common and accessible these inhalants are.)

Nitrous Oxide

• whipped cream dispensers, anything that will boost octane levels in cars

Toluene

• gasoline, paint thinners and removers, correction fluid, spray paints, aerosol deodorant and hair spray, vegetable oil cooking sprays, fabric protector sprays, shoe-shining spray

Amyl Nitrite, Isobutyl (butyl) Nitrite, Cyclohexyl Nitrite *these are the most popular

• video head cleaner, room odorizer, leather cleaner, liquid aroma

Butane, Propane

• lighter fluid, hair and paint sprays

Freon

• refrigerant and aerosol propellant, computer keyboard dusting sprays

Methylene Chloride

• paint thinners and removers, degreasers

Trichloroethylene

• spot removers, degreasers
  
  

More Than Sniffing

• Sniffing – Holding the marker or a container (original or improvised) to the nose and sniffing deeply. Users may use nail polish remover, or correction fluid on their nails, and then sniff their nails.
• Snorting – A variation of sniffing.
• Spraying – Users spray the desired chemical or substance onto a surface, a piece of paper, clothing, skin, (etc.) and either sniff or huff the vapours.
• Huffing – Users draw in the chemical vapours through their mouth, as a smoker does with a cigarette. Youtube has many videos showing teens huffing.
• Bagging – Popular with vapours from liquids such as gasoline. Users pour or spray the substance into a plastic or paper bag and either sniff or huff the vapours. This was graphically depicted by a video taken by an RCMP officer in Davis Inlet, Labrador, in 1999. The video documented Innu children sniffing gasoline from plastic garbage bags. Nitrous Oxide is commonly huffed using a balloon.
• Dusting — A specific term for using computer keyboard cleaner containing compressed gas.

Effects

When inhaled, these gases, vapours and solvents take effect right away and diminish within 15 minutes (usually), prompting users to continue using over an extended period of time increasing the amount of chemicals entering their body.

Once inside the body, these substances can be absorbed into parts of the brain and nervous system slowing down body functions similar to alcohol. Some teens have been killed using for the first time. Nitrites cause body functions to speed up and is often used by older teens and early 20-somethings to increase sexual function and pleasure.

Tell-Tale Signs

mood swings, extreme anger, agitation, irritability, exhaustion, loss of appetite, frequent vomiting, hallucinations and illusions, facial rashes and blisters, frequent nose running, coughing, dilated pupils, extremely bad breath, strong odours on clothing or person

How Inhalants Kill

Sudden Sniffing Death — Cardiac arrest (particularly with butane, propane, and aerosols)

Asphyxia — Oxygen in the lungs is replaced with poisonous gases causing death.

Suffocation — Users who huff or bag vapours by placing plastic bags over their heads are at high risk for this.

Injuries — Poor judgement and coordination has led to irrational behaviour causing death. Many everyday products are also highly flammable and have caused burns and explosions. People have been known to dip  cigarettes in these substances and light up - bad idea.

Suicide — With the ‘high’ comes a significant ‘low’ causing some to commit or attempt suicide.

Canadian Statistics

67% reported to have first used solvents between 12 and 16 years of age. 13% tried solvents before the age of 12, and 19% tried them when they were 17 or older. (2004 Canadian Addiction Survey)

Headlines

Sask. reserve grapples with propane abuse

May 17, 2010

12 Year Olds More Likely to Use Potentially Deadly Inhalants Than Cigarettes or Marijuana

March 14, 2010

Parents warned of 'dusting' solvent abuse (2005)

Rescue 911 - Episode 520 - "Butane Huffing"