PREVENTION MATTERS

BOSTON -- One in eight Massachusetts public high school students has tried
inhalants at least once, they say, a statistic that prompts state health
officials to raise awareness about this potentially life-threatening
problem. The Department of Public Health reports "huffing" is happening
throughout the state, among all types of children. Use may start as early
as the third grade and increase through middle school, with the highest
proportion of lifetime use seen among white, ninth-graders in rural areas.

However, state officials say they are seeing an increase in urban areas.
Steve Keel, director of prevention for the Bureau of Substance Abuse
Services at the Department of Public Health, says "We want to stay on top
of this and educate the population about what they can be looking for. It's
a big concern."

After holding discussion groups, the office will assemble materials
targeting minority populations in urban areas, Keel said. Other brochures
will target different groups -- parents, teachers, youth.

Inhalant abuse is the intentional breathing in of gas and vapors, with the
goal of getting high. It does not refer to snorting cocaine or smoking
substances such as tobacco, marijuana, crack cocaine or opium.

There are over 1,000 common household, school, and industrial products that
can be abused, including solvents, solvent-based products gases, fuels and
aerosols. Unlike other substances, inhalants are legal to possess for their
intended use; although in Massachusetts, the possession, use, purchase or
sale of these products for the purpose of causing intoxication is illegal.
State law says it is illegal to intentionally smell or inhale the fumes of
any substance having the property of releasing toxic vapors "for the
purpose of causing a condition of intoxication, euphoria, excitement,
exhilaration, stupefaction, dulled senses or nervous system." Additionally,
one can neither possess, buy nor sell any such substance (for these
purposes). Violators are subject to a fine of not more than $250,
imprisonment for six months or less, or both. Anyone discovered violating
the law can be arrested without a warrant and held in custody until a
complaint is made.

The Massachusetts Inhalant Abuse Task Force was created in 1995 by the
Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse
Services, to provide parents, teachers, healthcare workers and other
youth-serving professionals with the most up-to-date information available.
A Breath Away is its statewide campaign to increase public awareness of
inhalant abuse through the dissemination of educational materials and
information about effective prevention strategies.