NEUROLOGIST SOUNDS ALARM ON INHALANTS

The Visiting Specialist On Drug Abuse Warns Of Mental Impairment

A neurologist recognized internationally for research on the effects of
chemicals and drugs on the brain says he expects to see increased
neurological damage because of drug use.

"I really worry down the road what we're going to be facing in our
population," said Dr. Neil Rosenberg, University of Colorado clinical
professor of medicine, holistic doctor and founder of the International
Institute on Inhalant Abuse.

Hawaii is considered the "crystal methamphetamine (ice) capital" of the
nation, and Rosenberg said, "Methamphetamine is going to be one of the
culprits."

He predicts a lot more brain injury among kids using methamphetamines. "Next
to inhalants, stimulants are more damaging than other substance abuse --
that is, if it doesn't cause something catastrophic, like stroke or effects
on the heart."

Rosenberg and his wife, Catherine MacIntyre, who directs their institute,
are attending the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting at the
Hawai'i Convention Center.

One of his big fears is a huge increase in people with dementia at earlier
ages because of chronic drug use, he said in an interview.

People may seem OK after five or six years of drug abuse, he said, "but as
they get older and the nervous system starts to age, they're going to have
less reserve than others."

Rosenberg said he was the only one studying harmful effects of inhalants
when he began his research 20 years ago. Consequently, the National
Institutes of Health began directing all calls about inhalant abuse to him.

He received an NIH research grant and in 1991 founded the institute
primarily to do prevention and education.

In the 1980s, abuse of inhalants -- paints, glues, thinners, aerosols and
other industrial chemicals -- was rising by 1 percent a year while use of
other drugs was declining, he said.

Inhalants are "truly a gateway drug," often starting with kids 8 or 9 years
old, Rosenberg said. "The tragic thing is, the first time often is the last
time," and if they survive, most move on to other drugs, he said.

Rosenberg and his wife got a team together and traveled throughout the
United States and Central and South America, educating people about the
dangers of inhaling chemicals.

He said Latin America has about 50 million street kids, and a huge
percentage of them abuse inhalants. "Guys who sell glue make a good living.
They steal a big tub of glue and dole it out in baby food jars."

The couple has a home high up in the Andes and does extensive humanitarian
work with poor people in Peru and other countries in the lower Americas.

Meanwhile, they continue to lecture and give out information on the dangers
of drug abuse. A prolific author and popular speaker, Rosenberg has received
many honors and awards and been featured on many TV news shows.

He said many inhalant abusers are switching to stimulants, and the institute
has expanded to deal with effects on the brain. He works with law
enforcement agencies because of drug-related aggression and violence.

"We talk about dose response or relationship," he said, describing a model
he developed to explain violence based on toxicological principles. "The
same works with the mind. ... All the time the mind is dosing thought with
obtaining, using and experiencing the drug."

A person free of drugs for many years may hear in his or her head a song
that was played the first time he or she got high and get a craving without
knowing why, he said. "The brain is a receptor of information that affects
behavior."

An aggressive or violent person goes through the same thing as a drug
abuser, he said. "Angry thought is like chemical dosage to the mind. They go
out ready for something to happen."

Military personnel have experienced for 200 years what is now known as
post-traumatic stress disorder in response to war and violence, he said.
"They're being dosed."

People will return from the Iraq war affected by what will probably be
called Gulf War syndrome II, Rosenberg said. Those watching violence in the
media also may develop severe symptoms, but "the dose can be overcome with
resilience," he said.

He said the dose could be from a single episode, like a war experience, or
something like the holocaust in World War II with recurring nightmares that
"keep dosing ... like having a drug effect."

Playing violent video games for hours each day also has a dosing effect,
whether negatively affecting schoolwork or leading to incidents such as the
1999 shooting massacre by two seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton,
Colo., Rosenberg said.

"From a bigger perspective, all these things are like drugs. They're working
through the mind."