THE HIGH COST OF A CHEAP HIGH

Do you know what "huffing" is? You should.

Huffing is street slang for inhaling chemicals such as cleaning
fluids, glue and paint to get high, and it's on the rise in Texas and
elsewhere in the country. A recent survey by the Texas Commission on
Alcohol and Drugs found that 25 percent of Texas seventh-graders had
abused inhalants at least once.

Young people sniff inhalants because it's a cheap high. The chemicals
that produce euphoria, and cause serious damage to brain, heart,
lungs, liver and other organs, are found in all kinds of household
products from cleaning fluids to spray cans of paint. They can also
kill.

"Average age of first use of alcohol and inhalants is about 12," said
Jane Maxwell, chief researcher for TCADA. She urges parents not to
wait until their children are in high school to talk to them about
drug and inhalant abuse.

A horrible traffic accident in Pennsylvania in January, in which five
high school juniors died in a single-car wreck, has been blamed on
inhalant abuse. Police found a can of keyboard spray containing a
chemical solvent in the car and believe the young driver was speeding
and impaired when she lost control of the car and crashed.

Last week, state Rep. Patricia Gray, D-Galveston, filed a bill to
update Texas law controlling commonly abused chemical solvents. The
bill expands the number of inhalants prohibited for sale to minors and
requires a warning label on all prohibited products containing
harmful vapors that says they are not for sale to minors.

Gray's House Bill 2039 also charges $50 a year for a license to sell
"abusable volatile chemicals," provides penalties for sale of those
products to minors and directs some of the money the state collects
from the license fees to be used for education efforts to warn young
people of the dangers of huffing.

The inhalant bill was an initiative from the State Board of Health,
which has recognized the growing problem. "This bill is not going to
cover every product that can be abused," explained Charles Branton,
director of the health department's product safety division. "We want
to focus on the ones we think pose the greatest risk."

He said labels on products with dangerous chemical vapors will help
retailers identify products that can be abused and are illegal for
minors to purchase.

According to TCADA statistics, 94 Texans died between 1990-97 from
inhalant abuse. However, Harvey Weiss, executive director of the
National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, which is based in Austin, said
no one can be sure that the numbers aren't much higher because
inhalant deaths aren't always identified as such.

Statistics show that inhalant abuse declines as children age, but it
continues to be a grave danger to children between 12 and 17 years
old. Since the hundreds of everyday products containing volatile
chemicals can't be controlled, the only answer to inhalant abuse is
education.

Kids in middle school should be aware of the dangers in inhalant
abuse. And for children to learn, parents must know first.

(From Box)

House Bill 2039

*Sponsor: Patricia Gray, D-Galveston

*Phone: 463-0588

This bill requires a warning label on products with volatile chemicals
that are prohibited from sale to minors, increases the fee for a
license to sell the products and direct that some of the money be
spent on statewide education efforts.

Other information on inhalants:

National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, Austin

(512) 480-8953

Web site: www.inhalants.org

Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Austin

Hot line: (800) 832-9623

Web site: www.tcada.state.tx.us