HUFFING CONFINED TO TEENAGE YEARS, SAY SPECIALISTS

The trial of a Blenheim man after the death of a Picton teenager
during a huffing session that went wrong has brought the inhaling of
LPG to get high into focus. CLAIRE CONNELL talked to two drug
specialists about the practice.

The good news is that huffing isn't common.

The bad news is its use is primarily among young people and can cause
lasting damage, says regional addiction specialist Lee Nixon.

Dr Nixon says he does not see a lot of LPG huffing related cases in
treatment centres and it rarely comes to the attention of adult services.

The users either go on to harder drugs or simply move on from LPG, he says.

"Very occasionally will people get stuck on this particular drug, but
it is relatively uncommon to get stuck on it long term."

But any huffing makes users vulnerable.

"One of the dangers is that they can die as the gas is toxic to the
heart and brain. Sadly, every year we lose young people to it. Either
something goes wrong with the rhythm of their heart while their
inhaling it, or they will go unconscious, vomit and choke to death."

Long-term users can be more prone to chest infections because lungs
aren't designed to have LPG in them, he says. Chronic users can also
suffer brain damage.

"Most of the damage occurs in the frontal lobe, the part of the brain
responsible for making decisions and working out the consequences of
our actions. Usually people who get into this are really impulsive by
nature and they become more impulsive and less able to weigh up
consequences of their actions, so they start making worse and worse decisions."

Why do people inhale the stuff? Dr Nixon, who works at the
Nelson-Marlborough Alcohol and Other Drugs Services, says huffing LPG
has a short-term euphoric effect.

"There's a feeling of excitement: feeling good, relieving stress and
the sadness of life.

"They become relaxed, happy, talkative and laughy, and at the same
time they become less aware of what's going on around them."

He says it's a worrying problem within society because even though
numbers who use are small, the effects can be catastrophic.

"It kills a numerically small number but any 16 year old dying
unnecessarily is a problem."

Monitoring of the sale of LPG canisters would be impossible because
they are sold everywhere for a variety of proposes.

"We have to rely on the good sense of the people selling it. One of
the good things about our society is that almost everyone can afford
a BBQ ... but there is no practical way in sorting out the people who
are buying it to misuse. There is no reason to suspect it's becoming
a new craze. It is a constant low-grade habit that always existed."

Another addiction specialist says all drug use has a status among
users and LPG is at the lower end of that scale. He also disagrees
with Dr Nixon about its popularity.

Odyssey House youth service team leader Jim Marsters says: "if you
are sniffing LPG you are right at the end of the pecking order." He
says many progress into cannabis, alcohol or maybe other solvents
which have a higher status.

Mr Marsters, unlike Dr Nixon, thinks there may be an increase in use
but that could be attributed to better research. "It seems to be a
bit of a craze at the moment. I think that the young people who I
have worked with who have reported using LPG used it because they
were curious ... it was something that was there at the time."

And why do they do it?

"Initially, it's getting the high. The first thing is they like the
feelings they get from huffing. If it's been a bad experience they
won't do it again. There is a small percentage of people who enjoy
doing it, so they will continue."

He says a high percentage of the young people Christchurch's Odyssey
House has worked with have tried it. But most haven't had a good
experience. Mr Marsters deals with young people involved in a 14-to
18-day programme and live-in residential programme.

Teenagers between 15 and 19 years are most likely to try it, with
rarely any adults using it.

At the trial Christchurch-based forensic pathologist Martin Sage said
he dealt with two to three huffing deaths each each year. In some
situations, people could huff gas for "tens of minutes" before dying
suddenly, while with others it could happen in a few seconds. Often
the deaths were caused by an instability of the heart rhythm due to
the butane in the gas, or LPG replaced oxygen in the body, causing
the person to stop breathing. "Anecdotally, we know there are
substantial numbers of kids doing this behaviour but only a few of them die."