Pubdate: Mon, 25 Mar 2002
Source: Bucks County Courier Times (PA)
Copyright: 2002 Calkins Newspapers. Inc.
Contact: http://www.phillyburbs.com/feedback/content_cti.shtml
Website: http://www.phillyburbs.com/couriertimes/index.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1026
Author: Diane Villano
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

HUFFING OUT LIVES

Parents, listen up: One out of five kids today huffs, sniffs or bags 
inhalants before graduation from high school.

Parents, listen up: One out of five kids today huffs, sniffs or bags 
inhalants before graduation from high school.

Called Hippie Crack and Poor Man's Pot, inhalants are vapors from common 
household products intentionally inhaled to produce mind- altering effects. 
The vapors go directly to the brain and the blood stream.

"I feel lucky to be alive," said Dave, a recovering teen inhalant user, who 
spent his summer days inhaling full tanks of nitrous oxide. He mixed it 
with the drugs Xanax and Ecstasy and stole air duster and computer cleaner 
to get high.

"I didn't know I could die," he said.

Many like Dave start inhaling before they know its dangers.

The 17-year-old started sniffing gases from whipped cream canisters when he 
was 12 years old to fit in with the crowd of friends three and four years 
older than himself.

"It's not just fun. It controlled my life," Dave said of the time prior to 
his arrest and recovery at Today, Inc.

His advice to parents is that if you suspect something, don't let it go. 
Follow up on it.

"My parents believed me when I told them I wasn't using anything," he said.

Experts warn of the danger.

"It's like Russian roulette. They might make it the first but not the 10th 
or 20th [time]. Or maybe the first time their heart bursts," said Leonard 
Ward of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office on Drug Demand Reduction.

Ward joined a panel of experts at the Bensalem Municipal Building last week 
for the first Bensalem SADD/FAD Hearing on Inhalants.

According to community mobilizer Jessica Flowers who works for Today, Inc., 
a federal Drug Free Community Support Grant called for informing the 
community about drug and alcohol issues. The program on huffing is the 
first of four awareness efforts coordinated by Flowers with the help of 
Bensalem High School's SADD/FAD team, and sponsored by Building a Better 
Bensalem ... Today.

"It's amazing, you'd have students in class and you wouldn't have a clue 
that they were inhaling butane [soaked into] a scrunchie on their wrist. 
It's mind boggling," said Bensalem physical education teacher and SADD/FAD 
co-advisor Ruth O'Malley.

Inhalants include both household and commercial chemicals such as:

Solvents including glue, gasoline, correction fluids and felt-tip- marker fluid

Gases used in butane lighters, propane tanks, whip cream aerosols and 
refrigerant gases

Household aerosol propellants in spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays

Medical anesthetic gases such as ether, chloroform and nitrous oxide

"The high comes from brain cells dying. That's the bottom line," said 
Bensalem Police Officer Fred Schumann O'Malley, who also is an emergency 
room nurse at Temple Lower Bucks Hospital.

Parents often are the last to know a kid is using.

"It's the 'not my kid' mentality," said Marilyn Beiser, mother of a 
recovering teen and a facilitator for the Bucks County Council on 
Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

Beiser thought that if she did all the right things as a parent, her son, 
who was an altar boy, a Boy Scout, and active in sports, would be fine.

"I took him for all of his medical checkups, was on top of his school 
homework and his friends, attended all his games," she said.

Yet he became addicted to cocaine. Beiser discovered that like many other 
teens, his drug use started with inhalants, alcohol and marijuana.

"Every story is different and every story is the same. Addiction starts 
with a bad decision," she said.

Through her son's recovery she found out that he'd hide his drugs in her 
winter coat during the summertime, and used a dehumidifier in his bedroom 
to muffle the sound of his late night drug sessions.

"He didn't even start to get it for five to six weeks into his [court 
mandated] inpatient [recovery program]. It takes time to break down walls," 
Beiser said.

Due to lack of insurance for many, the only way to treatment is through the 
court system.

State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo will hold a state house appropriation public 
hearing on the need for more funding for statewide drug and alcohol 
treatment on April 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"Nothing is more frustrating than having a parent come into my office with 
a child with a drug or alcohol problem, their insurance won't cover the 
cost and they don't have the money for treatment. Counties always seem to 
run out of money toward the end of the year and there are waiting lists for 
people to get into treatment. Addiction is a disease. We wouldn't tolerate 
waiting lists for cancer and heart disease patients. We shouldn't tolerate 
it for addiction either," DiGirolamo said.

WHEN YOU NEED HELP

Pennsylvania Recovery Organization-Achieving Community Together with 
PRO-ACT, in association with the Bucks County Council on Alcoholism and 
Drug Dependence, Inc. offers a free program for parents who are worried 
about a child. It consists of three evenings of information presented by 
professionals and support from family members who've had the same 
experience. For more information, call 1-800-221-6333.

The Council also offers a 24-hour hotline, 1-800-221-6333.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF INHALENT USE

Chemical odors on breath and clothes

Paint or other stains on face, hands, or clothes

Red runny nose, sneezing, or nosebleeds

Sores or rash around mouth or nose

Chronic cough

Hand tremors

Headaches

Drunk or disoriented appearance

Slurred speech

Nausea or loss of appetite

Inattentiveness, lack of coordination, irritability, and depression

Drowsiness

Poor muscle control

Presence of paraphernalia such as bags or rags, discarded whip cream or 
similar charges (signs of nitrous oxide use) or small bottles, signs of 
butyl nitrite use)

Source: Commonwealth of PA Office of Attorney General, National Institute 
on Drug Abuse, Bucks County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

PROFILE OF AN INHALENT ABUSER

The average age of inhalant abusers is 14 years old.

Inhalant abuse is the highest among eighth-graders, and many of these 
students started before they were 10 years old.

Inhalant abusers generally have close friends who use alcohol or other drugs.

One in four inhalant abusers have quit or been permanently suspended from 
school.

Two out of three inhalant abusers had at least one failing grade on their 
last report card.

Inhalant abusers almost always move on to other drugs as they become older.

Nearly one out of three inhalant abusers has been arrested for a substance 
abuse-related offense.

Some inhalant abusers never used drugs before, are active in sports, earn 
good grades and have no criminal involvement.

Most inhalant abusers are very young, often beginning inhalant abuse 
without knowing about the consequences.

Most inhalant abusers use inhalants with others as a group activity.

Source: Commonwealth of PA Office of Attorney General
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