HEADS-UP TO PARENTS ON 'DUSTING'

SACRAMENTO -- You've heard it all before: Teens are using household
products to get high, and they're starting younger and younger.

But despite the barrage of media reports on the subject, many parents
report they'd never heard of the problem, until it was too late.
That's why Sacramento school counselor Jon Daily has been spreading
the word about teens and inhalants, specifically the trend called
"dusting," a form of huffing involving the computer cleaner Dust-Off.

The practice has become so prevalent that some stores have restricted
sales of the product to people ages 18 and older.

Daily's main concern is that parents know what they're dealing with
and what to do. Here are some signs that may indicate abuse of the
product:

- -- Disappearance of Dust-Off at a rate that doesn't correlate with
the cleanliness of your keyboard.

- -- Large stashes of the product in your child's room.

- -- Strange chemical smells on or around your child.

- -- Dazed looks or bloodshot eyes.

- -- Numbness around tongue, vocal cords or throat.

Many teens believe using a product such as Dust-Off is safe because
it's so accessible. But inhalant abuse can cause damage to the brain,
lungs, heart, kidneys and liver -- and, in the worst cases, death.
Once inhaled, the chemicals can trigger irregular heart rhythms, which
can lead to fatal cardiac arrest in even the youngest and healthiest
of hearts.

Though the risks of dusting are staggering, Daily and other experts
fear the bigger picture may become lost when the focus zeroes in on
one specific trend.

"You're going to have a really hard time finding a kid who's
exclusively dusting," said Daily, who has been interviewed by several
media outlets on dusting, including CNN and the "Today" show. "The
name of the drug is an illusion. Once they're busted for one drug,
they move on to another."

Teens start experimenting with inhalants well before they try other
forms of drugs, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and
Health. The survey found that last year the largest rise in teenage
drug use occurred with inhalants.

Harvey Weiss, director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition
in Austin, Texas, echoed Daily's fear of losing the big picture of
teenage drug use.

"As we focus on particular products or brands, we forget that there
are other things out there," Weiss said. "(Parents) really need to
know that there are thousands of products out there that can be abused."