DRUG ABUSE

Issue: Inhalant Use Is a Troubling Trend in South Florida Middle Schools.

The figures seem small: An estimated 7.8 percent of Broward County
middle school students got high in the past 30 days by using inhalants.

Unfortunately, the single-digit statistic can't be dismissed so
cavalierly. In 2002, that figure was only 5.9 percent, and the
statistic remains higher than the state average. To be blunt, inhalant
use in middle school is trending the wrong way -- upward.

Inhalants are an insidious form of drug abuse. They tend to be legal
products that are poisons. Their impact can be fatal, and those
incidents even have their own term: Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome.

However, inhalant use isn't an easy problem to detect. Statistics are
often sketchy because many inhalant-related deaths are attributed to
other causes. In fact, there have been no reports of an inhalant
fatality in either Broward or Palm Beach counties in the past decade,
although it would only take one to put a harsh spotlight on this
under-the-radar problem.

Worse, using inhalants usually occurs under the noses of unsuspecting
adults who may overlook the obvious signs of trouble, ranging from
dazed appearances, unusual irritability and slurred speech to chemical
odors coming from a child's clothing.

This isn't exactly your old-school whiff of mimeograph paper.
Youngsters today can be harmed by more than 1,400 products, which are
all legal and easy to obtain. Air fresheners, butane,
computer-cleaning spray, dry-cleaning fluid, fabric protectors,
gasoline, hairspray, model-airplane glue, nail polish remover,
propane, rubber cement, spray paint and vegetable cooking spray are
all potentially deadly if abused in search of a cheap thrill.

School and social service professionals are stepping up their efforts,
but it's up to parents to generate a buzz among their peers if
authorities hope to rid South Florida's middle schools of abusing inhalants.

BOTTOM LINE: The real "buzz" needed to snuff out inhalant use in
middle schools will have to come from aware parents.