MICHAEL JORDAN'S MOM CAMPAIGNS AGAINST INHALANT ABUSE

WASHINGTON -- The mother of basketball superstar Michael Jordan had a short
message to the nation's parents Tuesday:

The things kids are tempted to sniff, like the fumes from gasoline and nail
polish remover, are easy to find, perfectly legal and very often deadly.

Delores Jordan, who doesn't mind the nickname ``Mrs. J,'' said she decided
to accept an offer to be the national spokeswoman for an effort to educate
parents about inhalant abuse after two boys in her Charlotte, N.C.,
neighborhood were arrested for stealing freon from window air conditioners.

``We have to educate parents; it's happening in our communities,'' she said.

The heads of two federal agencies said her message, packaged for delivery to
parents in the form of a new video documentary, is an important one that
hasn't been getting through.

Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug control chief, said surveys show that one
in five teen-agers has used inhalants to get high and that nearly as many
eighth-graders have used inhalants as have used marijuana. In 1996, more
than 800,000 children used inhalants for the first time, he said.

Ann Brown, head of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said
inhalants can kill even on a first experimental use. They can damage the
brain, liver and kidneys, trigger muscle spasms, damage bone marrow and
cause short-term memory loss, she said.

``It is a deadly hazard,'' she said, one of which most parents are unaware.

Dr. Rick Heiss, who lost a son to inhalant abuse four years ago and who is
featured on the video, said parents need to explain the dangers to their
children while they are in grade school and still young enough to listen.

If parents wait too long, he said, their kids will be influenced more by
their high school buddies than by them.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst