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| 21 March 2000 - The San Diego Union-Tribune Warning is sounded on 'huffing' By Susan Gembrowski LAKESIDE – Two teen-agers died last year in San Diego County from sniffing inhalants, a form of drug abuse known as "huffing." Cynthia Bramley McCormick's 19-year-old son was one of them. "He told me, 'Mom, I so much want to live…. I don't want to get high, but I just can't stop,'" McCormick said yesterday at the Lakeside school district office during a news conference to kick off National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week. National statistics show that sniffing inhalants – common household items, such as rubber cement, air freshener cleaning products and non-stick cooking spray – has increased from 300,000 abusers in 1991 to more than 1 million today, said David Vialpando, special agent supervisor with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.; The tragedy is that inhalants are readily available to potential abusers, said El Cajon police Capt. Bill McClurg, president of El Cajon based Communities Against Substance Abuse. Curious children can get a can of generic air freshener for 99 cents, and practiced huffers are adept at hiding their addiction. Parents should know that one way to sniff without anyone suspecting is to carry a soda can containing a paper towel soaked in chemicals, the experts said. The consequences, even for a one-time huffer, can be deadly. Sniffing such common inhalants as paint, gasoline and hair spray introduce toxins into the body and can damage the liver, lungs, kidneys and brain. The high is immediate and usually short-lived, and it causes huffers to hallucinate, said San Diegan Donna Shephard. Shepard's 14-year-old childhood friend died 25 years ago from inhalants. The two of them would sniff at the bus stop. "It's scary kids are still doing it today," she said. Drug prevention experts targeted 11 inhalants in the late 1980s, but abuse is rising and the huffers are getting younger. The average age of use is between 12 and 13, with reported cases of 5-year-olds sniffing inhalants, according to CASA statistics. "I have not seen any evidence of it here, but as (we) heard, we might not know,` Lakeside Superintendent Carol Leighty said. Parents should be on the lookout for paint on their children's hands, mouth or nose, spots or sores around the mouth. nausea and loss of appetite, red and runny eyes, or a drunk or dazed appearance. "It's true not every kid is using, but every kid is at risk," said Sara Rapp, a Granite Hills High senior. McCormick, like many other parents, thought alcohol and marijuana were her son Seth Bramley's only drugs of choice. He had been to three drug treatment programs and was trying to shake his addiction – but none of the counselors talked about huffing. On Sept. 10 last year, Bramley moved to San Diego to enroll in college. He died two days later with a plastic bag on his head, which huffers use to increase the effect, and a can of shaving gel by his side, his mother said. "As a parent, you can't help but feel that there was something you could have done," McCormick said. "When your child dies, part of you dies and you can never get that back." Article Snapshot (26K) |
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