Source: Oakland Tribune, op/ed pages, 8/19/97
Contact: tribedit@mail.well.com

Household products can be lethal drugs

By Anthony Tomasello

KIDS once used air freshener to hide the smell of marijuana smoke. Now
they're

using air freshener to get high, and it's killing them.

The latest victim was Thomas William McDonald, a 16yearold high school
student, who was found dead in a parked car on Aug. 5. Police said a
9ounce can of air freshener was found between his legs, and a second,
which was just about empty, was found on the passenger seat.

Thomas' death illustrates the need to educate our children about the
dangers of inhaling commonly used products, just as we've warned them
about street drugs.

One reason we have yet to win the drug war is because we don't tend to
think of these common, legal substances as serious drugs. We are quick to
warn our children about the dangers of alcohol, marijuana, heroin and
cocaine. We haven't been as quick to the mark, however, in warning them
about inhalants, "natural" substances and other legal products.

Parents are becoming more aggressive in talking to their children about
substance abuse, not waiting to have "a talk" with a teenager but
incorporating and encouraging open communication throughout the child's
development. But the communication with children and teens about
substance abuse should address the use of legal, seemingly "safe"
products to get high.

Teachers are on the lookout for physical signs of drug use among their
students, such as weight loss, needle tracks and bloodshot eyes.
Counselors pay attention to warning signs in children's behavior such as
mood swings, emotional withdrawal and irritability.

Television shows and comic books show kids how to be strong if offered
illegal drugs, and physicians encourage their young patients to come to
them with questions and concerns.

All these efforts have helped teach our children how to avoid drugs on
the street. But what about the substances available in the home, at the
drug store or at the mall?

We must continue to teach our children about the dangers of street drugs
while adding to the dialog the risks Involved in experimenting with other
substances without diminishing either message.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has estimated' that 1,000 teens die
annually by breathing fumes from easily accessible products.

Air fresheners, for example, can contain butyl nitrates and are only one
of 100 products a child can use to induce a high. A can of whipped cream
uses nitrous oxide, an anesthetic, as a propellant. The aerosol in a
bottle of hair spray can induce a fast, powerful high. The paint thinner
in the garage is a solvent and the barbecue grill tank contains volatile
gases.

These products are as dangerous and potentially lethal perhaps more so
than the illicit drugs on which we have focused so much attention.

In the short term, inhalants can cause arrhythmia a rapid, irregular
heartbeat that can prove fatal. Longterm abuse of inhalants that contain
solvents literally wastes away brain tissue, leaving users at risk of
permanent and severe brain damage. It's great that kids know they can
overdose on heroin, but do they know they can die from sniffing
fingernail polish remover?

If the kitchen cabinet or garage is a dangerous place, the mall is
equally so.

You might start the day with a cup of coffee containing 60 to 100
milligrams of caffeine, but the pep pills (touted as "study aids" for
their ability as stimulants to keep the user awake) and diet pills
available over the counter at the neighborhood drug store can contain
three to four times that amount in a single dose.

Another stimulant, ephedrine, recently has come under the scrutiny of
the Federal Administration after a number of deaths related to its use.
Parents might recognize "ephedrine" as a drugsounding name, but they
might not think twice about an herb called "ma huang," from which
ephedrine and its chemical cousins principally are derived.

Products containing ma huang are available at the health food store and
the convenience market and are marketed a "allnatural." Because some
thing is natural in no way means it is safe. Arsenic an cyanide are
completely natural

and they will kill you.

Another dangerous, upandcoming product is gammahydroxybutyrate C GHB,
which is marketed as a sleep aid.

GHB affects the release of pamine in the brain, causing I relaxation or
sleep at low doses but unconsciousness or death at higher doses. Because
the effect of a dose is influenced heavily by body weight, a safe dosage
for one person can injure or even kill another.

These warnings are not meant to scare parents into thinking that

their child is an addict simply because he or she has a sweet tooth for
whipped cream or builds models using acetone glue.

Teenagers always have been, and will doubtless continue to be, naturally
attracted to new, sometimes potentially dangerous activities. Because of
th state of youthful idealism in which teens exist, the risks of certain
behaviors are dismissed with a casual shrug and a "couldn't happen to me"
attitude.

Unfortunately, drug use is all too often part of the quest for novelty,
and given the increased potency, variety and availability of drugs in
today's culture, the dangers of experimentation are greater than in the
past.

Researchers often find themselves in the position of collecting data on
commonsense aspects of life. Thus it might be no surprise that
adolescents who describe their homes as warm and caring are much less
likely to engage in heavy drug use compared to young people who describe
their homes as being emotionally cold.

The challenge to parents is to mediate the adolescent inquisitiveness
that is so crucial to a teen's development with a healthy respect for
life, and to help guide their children as they find ways to experience
new things, meet new challenges and overcome new obstacles.

The opportunity to discover common ground by exploring the horizon of
legal and reasonable options together, and to create strong family ties
while fortifying against drug abuse, should offer parents renewed
enthusiasm and hope.

Anthony Tommasello is the director of the Office of Substance Abuse
Studies at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy.