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21 March 2000 - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Inhalant abuse: a breath away from death

By Bill McClurg and Richard Clark

Just days after Cynthia Bramley McCormick held her son's hand as he promised never to abuse inhalants again, the 19-year-old was found unconscious with a plastic bag over his head. Seth Bramley died in September from "bagging" a can of shaving gel.

"Seth was no longer in control, the inhalants ants had taken over his life," says the Wrightwood parent.

The week of March 19-25 is National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week to educate youth, parents and other adults that inhalants are poisons never intended for human consumption, extremely addictive and fatal.

A recent study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that 95 percent of parents believe their child has never abused inhalants. Yet at least one in five 8th graders has intentionally inhaled toxic products at the risk of brain damage and even death, reports the National Institute on Drug Abuse "Monitoring the Future Survey."

California mirrors the national rate, according to the California Departments of Justice and Education "California Student Substance Use Survey." The average age of use is 12 and 13. Younger teens more often than older abuse poisonous inhalants. Cases as young as five years old have been reported.

Inhalants are available and cheap. No coner drug deals, just kitchen cabinets, school supply closets and garages. More than 1000 toxic household products can be abused to get high. It's called "huffing," "sniffing" or "bagging" – filling the lungs with poison. McCormick, along with Communities Against Substance Abuse/Partnership for Drug-Free San Diego, California Poison Control System and other community groups, is advocating the following measures to address the problem:

	Stiffer laws to reduce the toxicity of aerosols and other inhalants. For example, California passed a law requiring typewriter correction fluid to be water-soluble and not solvent-based.
	Voluntary changes by companies. For example, WD-40 which is headquartered in San Diego, changed the propellant in its aerosol to lessen its toxicity.
	Asking retailers to refuse to sell quantities of abusable substances to youth without parental consent.
	Retailer compliance of existing laws such as making them inaccessible to youth.
	Community support for increased enforcement of existing laws prohibiting the sale of "whippet kits" with nitrous oxide. Huffing often occurs before, during or after class. Here are some things schools can do:
	Substitute water based products for solvent-based items when possible. Closely monitor solvents and gases.
	Address inhalant abuse in school substance-abuse policies. In California, the sale, distribution, dispensation and possession of inhalants for the purpose of getting high is illegal. School policy should reflect that.

Inhalant use has become a silent epidemic. Parents are out of the loop. Children discuss it and practice it. Adults have no clue. Often, parents are unwitting suppliers, failing to be suspicious when air freshener, gasoline or cleaning products disappear or show up in a child's bedroom.

"I remember finding washcloths with the outline of Seth's face that smelled like air freshener," says McCormick. "I never knew what he was doing. I want other parents to know the warning signs better than I did. By the time I figured it out it was too late." Telltale signs of inhalant abuse include:

	Paint on hands, mouth or nose.
	Chemical breath odor.
	Red or runny eyes or nose.
	Spots or sores around the mouth.
	Drunk or dazed appearance.
	Anxiety, excitability, irritability.
	Nausea, loss of appetite.
	Chemically soaked rags, socks or bags.

Each year, hundreds of children are hospitalized from inhalant abuse. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office, inhalant abuse caused five deaths in the past five years, two in 1999. Drug prevention specialist Jo Ann Tapp of Communities Against Substance Abuse says even one use can kill.

"It's like playing Russian Roulette," says Tapp. "The effects, which last anywhere from five minutes to an hour, can result in total unconsciousness and even death the first, tenth or one-hundredth time."

Sometimes it's intentional. A San Diego woman says her 16-year-old son researched how to take his life with a $3 can of computer cleaner – and succeeded. In October, she found him unresponsive on his bed with a plastic bag over his head. Short of death, people who abuse inhalants risk permanent and severe brain damage.

Most experts agree that simply providing children with information that inhalants are poisons usually will NOT change behaviors. Adults must know the common household products kids abuse as poisonous inhalants and know the ways kids huff vapors. Parents can teach kids decision making skills necessary to withstand the allure of getting high and rehearse with them the things they might say or do in response to an offer that is harmful.

As McCormick will tell you, inhalant abuse is right under our noses and death is just a breath away. "I can't help as a parent feeling there was more I could have done. I don't want another parent to go through this, or a child to feel so desperate they turn to inhalants to get high."

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