DEATH AT FIRST WHIFF HAS COME TO SUBURBIA

Although most of us look well adjusted and grown up, the reality is
that occasional, recreational drug use is widespread in my generation.
Whether it's cocaine lines in the bathroom of a bar or a marijuana
joint in Jeanne Mance Park, a lot of 20-somethings still dabble in
drugs.

Most ended their drug experimentation period after teenage walks on
the wild side and have settled on a small selection of narcotics they
use once in a while without feeling like old-lady-robbing junkies.

I've never met anyone whose shortlist included sniffing solvents. In
fact, my sources tell me even seasoned revellers on the St. Laurent
Blvd. party circuit who have rarely seen a narcotic they didn't
embrace seem to draw the line at sniffing solvents.

Substances like shellac and varnish aren't even drugs. They're
poisons, which doesn't make them seem alluring, fun or soothing -
essential characteristics for any recreational drug. Inhaling lighter
fluid, sniffing airplane glue or huffing a paint thinner-soaked rag
seems like a desperate thing to do. It's an act that reeks not of a
need for attention, like the current mini-fad of self-mutilation or
multiple facial piercing, but of sheer despair.

In two failed attempts to get high, the deadly threat of sniffing
became reality last week for a 17-year-old boy in Longueuil and a
16-year-old boy in Mont St. Gregoire. In both cases, the teens died
after inhaling fumes from a container of butane gas.

The only inhalant I've ever been around is nitrous oxide, or laughing
gas. Although illegal, nitrous is sometimes sold at outdoor concerts
in the United States, I saw this first-hand at a Phish concert in
Miami. Across the street from the American Airlines Arena, where the
band was jamming, a cluster of pedlars was selling everything from
sandwiches to friendship bracelets to nitrous oxide. Five bucks got
you a red balloon filled with the gas, which was then inhaled.

Society has come to terms with the fact that almost every kid will try
marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes. But what about inhalants? The
recent deaths have proved solvent-sniffing is not just for intoxicated
itinerants like those at the Guy-Concordia metro station. Sniffing has
come to suburbia.

Solvents like glue, nail polish remover and aerosols are cheap and can
be easily and legally purchased in stores all over. So kids who want
to get high don't face the tedious tasks of finding a marijuana dealer
or someone over 18 to buy them beer.

While raising awareness about the problem is important, sometimes even
just talking about it can lead to experimentation. The embarrassingly
titled teenpuberty.com Web site has a section intended to warn against
the use of inhalants but ends up reading like an eerie "how to."

"Inhalants are ordinary household products inhaled or sniffed by
children to get high," the site informs visitors. "Examples of
products kids abuse to get high include model airplane glue, nail
polish remover and hair spray. These products are sniffed or snorted
. to achieve a high."

This buzz reportedly lasts only a couple of minutes. The person may
feel lightheaded and see bright lights and colours - but they can also
have a heart attack, even on their first try. Sniffing junk like this
is like playing Russian roulette, because your life hangs in the balance.