INHALANT ABUSE WIDESPREAD AMONG U.S. TEENS

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Nine percent of US 8th graders are
regularly inhaling ordinary--and potentially deadly--household
products as a cheap and legal high, according to 2001 federal drug
statistics.

Substance abuse experts said that nearly 17 million Americans,
including 2.1 million teens reported at least some experience with
"huffing"--the popular name describing the sniffing of glues,
solvents or aerosol propellants. Americans are using inhalants at
more than twice the rate of Ecstasy and the prescription painkiller
Oxycontin, they said.

"What we are talking about here are legitimate substances that are
available in our homes and in our lives every day," said John
Walters, who directs the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy as US 'Drug Czar'.

Walters said that researchers have seen some reductions in inhalant
use among high school seniors over the past year. Still, at least one
fifth of all 7th and 8th graders tell researchers they have used
inhalants at least once, according to the National Inhalant
Prevention Coalition (NHIP).

Most inhalants act on the brain's dopamine system to produce a
fast-acting and temporary effect similar to alcohol intoxication. But
the substances, which also include paint thinners, canned whip cream
and nail polish removers, can also damage heart and brain tissue.

Experts warn that sudden attitude changes, "spacey" behavior, or
out-of-place inhalant-containing products in the home can all be
signs of use among adolescents. Between 100 and 120 US teens died and
thousands were injured using inhalants each year between 1996 and
2000, according to NHIP.

Experts acknowledged that they face a daunting task in stemming
inhalant use among children. Because the substances are legal and
"ubiquitous," parental education has to take the place of law
enforcement in controlling huffing, said Charles G. Curie, the
director of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.

"Unfortunately, it's an educational process that seems to never end," he said.

Wisconsin mother Laurie Culp said that when her son Aaron died from
inhaling butane last June, "it was the first time I had ever heard of
huffing."