RNS: Inhalants: The new, convenient high for kids and teens, July 2006
TIME: 2:36
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URL: www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2006/hminhalants.htm
Inhalants: The new, convenient high for kids and teens
U-M expert offers advice on how parents can spot inhalant abuse and talk to their kids about risks
Suggested lead: Inhalant abuse may seem like youthful experimentation to some, but it can lead to very serious health consequences or death, even the first time they are used. A U-M expert offers some suggestions on how and when to talk with your kids about the dangers of inhalants, as well as tips on how to detect inhalant abuse with your child. Here’s Andi McDonnell with more...
This is your brain on shoe polish? Or maybe hairspray, air freshener or glue?
For years, the popular TV commercial with fried eggs and the slogan "This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs" worked to discourage conventional drug use among young Americans.
But today children and teens are finding new, inexpensive and more convenient ways to get high by using products – found under the kitchen sink or in the bathroom of their homes – that are just as harmful and potentially deadly as drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroine. In fact, about 10 to 15 percent of youth have reported using inhalants at some point in their life to get high.
Dr. David Rosen, chief of adolescent medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, tells us…
“When parents think about drugs, often times they’re thinking about things like marijuana, cocaine, heroine, pills and things like that. Inhalants are a drug that younger kids use because they’re readily available, they’re convenient, they’re easy to find, they’re around the house. Kids get high from using them and kids perceive them as being relatively safe, and they’re almost invisible. Parents frequently don’t know that the kids are using these substances until something terrible happens or until it’s discovered, often quite inadvertently.”
But spotting inhalant abuse can be hard, says Rosen. To help, he encourages parents to be on the look-out for these three signs of abuse:
- Mental and physical changes. Rosen says changes in behavior, school performance, grooming, weight, or peer group should be red-alerts to parents that something serious may be going on with their child.
- Tell-tale clues in the bedroom: A can of gasoline in a child’s bedroom or air fresheners under the bed or in the closet are all signs that a child may be abusing inhalants.
- A rash around the nose or mouth
If parents see any evidence of any of these three signs of abuse, they should take action. Rosen explains…
“If parents are concerned that their children might be using inhalants the first thing to do is ask about it. Even if their children deny it, if their suspicions are strong, I think it’s worth a visit to their primary health care provider so that the health care provider can have another opportunity in a different setting, perhaps confidentially, to talk with that child and find out whether or not the inhalants or something else might be being used.”
And even before you have reason for concern, Rosen suggests talking with your child about the dangers of inhalant abuse. He recommends that parents broach the topic with their children as early as age 10, before they are likely to encounter social and peer situations where inhalant abuse may be present.
Andi Mcdonnell, U-M Health System News.
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