Inhalant

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(Redirected from Volatile substance abuse)

Image:HuffingGoldPaint.jpg Inhalants are a chemically diverse group of psychoactive substances composed of organic solvents and volatile substances commonly found in more than 1000 common household products, such as glues, hair spray, air fresheners, gasoline, lighter fluid, and paint.

The practice of inhaling such substances is sometimes colloquially referred to as huffing or chroming; or, more formally, solvent abuse.

Solvents are some of the most dangerous substances used recreationally, and can cause serious damage to the brain and central nervous system, and are generally only used by young substance abusers or as a desperate last resort for financially deprived drug addicts. While not regulated in the United States under the Controlled Substances Act, many states have placed restrictions on the sale of these products to minors.

1 Methods of use
2 Usage and availability
3 Common inhalants
4 Risks
5 See also
6 External links

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Methods of use

Inhalants may be sniffed directly from an open container or "buzzed" from a rag soaked in the substance and held to the face. Alternatively, the open container or soaked rag can be placed in a plastic bag where the vapors concentrate, and the bag held to the face as the user inhales. Solvent-based markers are generally held to the nose, and the fumes inhaled. Propane and butane may be inhaled directly from the canister.

Although inhalant abusers may prefer one particular substance because of the odor or taste, a variety of substances may be used because of their similar effects, availability, and cost. Once inhaled, the extensive capillary surface of the lungs allows rapid absorption of the substance, and blood levels peak rapidly. Entry into the brain is so fast that the effects of inhalation can resemble the intensity of effects produced by intravenous injection of other psychoactive drugs.

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Usage and availability

Inhalant abuse is common among children and adolescents.

Inhalants are readily available, inexpensive, and easy to conceal. Therefore, they are increasingly popular with young people and are, for many, one of the first substances abused.

In the United States the extent of the inhalant problem among children and adolescents was, at first, virtually unrecognized by the general public. However, an event in early 1999 called national attention to this severe problem. Five high school girls were killed in a car accident outside Philadelphia, and the coroner's report showed that four of the five, including the driver, had ingested "significant" amounts of a computer keyboard cleaner. Since this event, there has been an increased awareness of the threat of inhalant abuse.

Gasoline inhalation became common on Russian ships following attempts to limit the supply of alcohol to crew in the 1980s. The documentary "Children Underground" depicts the huffing of Aurolac by Romanian homeless children.

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Common inhalants

butane
canned air (compressed hydrofluorocarbons)
casette player head cleaner
correction fluid
diethyl ether
embalming fluid (formaldehyde or similar chemicals)
freon
gasoline
glues and cements (rubber cement, plastic cement, etc.)
nail polish remover (acetone or similar chemicals)
paint or spraypaint
Paint thinner (turpentine or similar chemicals)
Raid
Scotchgard
Toluene
xylene markers

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Risks

Use of inhalants can cause brain, nerve, liver and other damage to the body. It can also result in sudden death by cardiac arrest, especially if the user is startled while high; this is known as Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome. However, not all inhalants can cause this, Nitrous oxide for example cannot by itself cause Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome.

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