- Inhalants are breathable substances that produce mood altering vapors
Who Uses Inhalants?
- Typically students starting in the 8th grade
- Young teenagers
- Chronic use more common in young men
Reasons People use an Inhalant
- Packaging is convenient and doesn’t look illegal
- The substances themselves are generally legal
- The high comes on quickly and leaves the body almost as quickly
- It’s a temporary substitute for more expensive drugs like marijuana, LSD, or even alcohol
Commonly Used Inhalants
- Model airplane glue
- Rubber cement
- Spray paint
- Air freshener
- Deodorant
- Ether
- Dry cleaning fluid
- Spot remover
- Vegetable cooking spray
Volatile Solvents
- Produce a quick form of intoxication followed by:
- Drowsiness
- Disinhibition
- Staggering
- Light-headedness
- agitation
- Gases – butane gas fumes
- Liquids – gasoline or paint thinner
- Wax removers
- Hair spray
- Air fresheners
- Cigarette lighter fuels
- Analgesic sprays
- Propellant gases
- Whipped cream dispensers
Nitrites
- Amyl nitrate – previously used for heart patients
- Clear yellowish liquid that is sold in a cloth covered, sealed bulb
- Bulbs pop or snap when broken – “poppers” & “snappers”
- Butyl nitrate – prescriptions are required
- Small bottles – often marked “incense”
- “locker room”
- “rush”
- High lasts from a few seconds to several minutes
Anesthetics
- Nitrous oxide
- Colorless, sweet-tasting gas used by doctors and dentists for general anesthesia
- “Laughing gas”
- Often induces a state of giggling and laughter
- Often sold in large balloons from which the gas is released and inhaled
Routes of Administration
- Breathed in through the mouth and/or nose
Forms of Inhalation
- Sniffing – breathing in the inhalant directly from the container
- Puts the vapor immediately into the lungs
- Huffing – Soaking a rag with dissolved inhalant – putting the rag in one’s mouth, and inhaling – inhaling from a solvent-soaked rag
- Bagging – placing the inhalant in a plastic bag – covering the nose and/or mouth with the bag, and inhaling
- Spraying – spraying the inhalant directly into the nasal or oral cavity
Side Effects & Adverse Reactions
- High begins within minutes and lasts from 15 to 45 minutes
- Users may feel slightly stimulated
- May feel less inhibited
- Less in control
- Light headed
- Giddy
- Unconsciousness
- Dizziness
- Decreased blood pressure followed by:
- Increased heart rate and headache
- May deplete the body of oxygen
- Peripheral nerve damage
- Nausea
- Ringing in the ears
- Abnormal heart rhythm
- Nosebleeds
- Feeling and looking tired
- Coughing
- Double Vision
- Irritation of the eyes
- Poor judgment
- Lack of coordination
- Chest pain
- Muscle and joint aches
- Loss of appetite
- Death
Long-Term Effects of Inhalants
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Salt imbalance
- Permanent damage to the nervous system
- Reduced physical and mental abilities
- Blood damage
- Bone marrow damage
- Liver damage
- Kidney damage
- Violent behavior
- Unconsciousness
- Suffocation
- Breathing slows down
- Death
Withdrawl Symptoms
- Sweating
- Rapid pulse
- Hand tremors
- Nausea
- Grand mal seizure
- hallucinations
Signs & Symptoms of Inhalant Use
- Odor on breath and clothes
- Runny nose
- Flushed face
- Sneezing
- Watery eyes
- Drowsiness
- Paint or stain on body or clothing
- Spots or sores around mouth
- Red eyes
- Excitability
- Irritability
- Poor muscle control
- Presence of paraphernalia such as:
- Bags
- Rags
- Discarded whipped cream chargers
- Small bottles
References:
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