Pubdate: Mon, 19 Sep 2005
Source: Central Michigan Life (MI Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Central Michigan LIFE
Contact:  http://www.cm-life.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2808
Author: Phillip Wagner, Senior Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

'DUSTING' HAS A NEW MEANING

Huffing Method Made Possible By Keyboard Cleaner

Police, counselors and even office supply stores are becoming aware of a 
new drug craze happening throughout the nation.

Dusting -- a form of huffing -- involves users inhaling compressed air 
found in the most unassuming of household products: keyboard cleaner.

Maria Reiser, director of community outreach with Mount Pleasant Swift 
Counseling, said dusting has gotten the group's attention, although it has 
yet to deal with any specific case.

"Certain drugs go in and out in terms of trends," she said. "This is 
extremely dangerous. There is a great risk of permanent brain damage or 
death from first use."

Reiser said the compressed air in keyboard cleaners contains a refrigerant 
which replaces the air in the lungs, giving users a brief buzz throughout 
their body.

"They don't get high; it's a poison," she said. "They experience brain 
damage right away."

Detective Lt. Amado Arceo, a supervisor for the Bay Area Narcotics 
Enforcement Team, or BAYANET, said dusting could damage the heart, lungs, 
kidneys and liver as well.

"When you take in chemicals like that, those types of things are going to 
attack the central nervous system," he said. "It's really nothing to be 
playing around with."

Like Reiser, Arceo hasn't come across this problem firsthand but he said 
it's something that should be taken seriously.

"It's something that's out there," he said. "If people start thinking about 
trying it, it's just as bad as other drugs. You can die from dusting just 
as easily as you can die from meth(amphetamines) and crack."

Arceo said enforcement against dusting and other inhalant use is difficult 
since the products being used are legal.

Many companies are beginning to institute store policies to try and limit 
sales of items for such purposes.

Staples Corporation, a leading office supply chain, began prohibiting sales 
of canned air to customers under 18 last fall, said company spokesman Owen 
Davis.

"Staples instituted this policy to help enforce the warning label on the 
can," Davis said. "Our cashiers are prompted and reminded to ask for 
identification when a customer goes to buy a canned air product."

Arceo said similar policies in stores selling meth ingredients have limited 
the spread of the drug. He doesn't know if this will be the case with the 
new drug fad.

"I don't know if dusting will get to that point, but time will tell," Arceo 
said.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman