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Inhalants Addiction News Updates Amongst 12-Year-Olds
When kids turn 12, their parents are worried about peers pressuring them into smoking cigarettes, drinking, and using drugs. However, it turns out 12-year-olds are doing something else entirely: getting high on inhalants.
A recent national survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report found that kids are using inhalants more than cocaine, hallucinogens, and marijuana combined.
Many young people are sniffing — inhaling — a wide variety of products to experience a high. Inhalants are cheap, legal, and available everywhere.
They are readily available in most homes: shoe polish, computer cleaners or air dusters, refrigerant from air conditioners, aerosols, gasoline, nail polish, hair spray, air fresheners, glue, and spray paint.
Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, remarked on the gravity and persistence of the challenge of increasing experimentation and intentional misuse of common household products among the 12-year-olds, who are the youngest and most vulnerable members of society.
He added that the data is concerning, and its implications are frightening because of the poisonous, chemical effects of these legal products on the young and growing minds and bodies.
The survey noted that 6.9 percent of 12-year-olds had tried inhalants (huffing) while 1.4 percent have used marijuana, 0.7 percent hallucinogens, and 0.1 percent cocaine. The report found that 5.2 percent had smoked cigarettes.
Inhalants Addiction Reports: Huffing can be Deadly, Leading to “Sudden Sniffing Death”
Dr. Jennifer Caudle, director of the family medicine section of the Department of Internal Medicine at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, impressed on the importance of educating adolescents about the dangers of huffing.
She noted that young people do not always discern the consequences of using inhalants. However, it is possible to succumb to a single attempt to use inhalants. ‘Sudden sniffing death’ makes the heart beat rapidly, which can culminate in cardiac arrest.
Kevin and Deborah Talley are parents that know that all too well. Their 17-year-old daughter, Amber Ann Suri, passed away after using inhalants in February 2009.
Mr. Talley said the teenager had obviously been inhaling for about half a year, but by the time their suspicions grew, it was too late.
Pamela S. Hyde, an administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said that parents must wake up to the reality that their child might try huffing, and the consequences could be disastrous.
She quoted this as the reason why SAMHSA is leading the way to get information out to health care providers, parents, kids, and everyone in the society so that all children hear a consistent message about the risks of huffing.
This message is one 17-year old Ashley Upchurch said she now takes seriously. She said she started huffing when she was 11.
She said that inhalants were cheap, legal, and an intense high that would also intensify the feeling she would get from other drugs. She admitted that these highs nearly destroyed her life. She’s been in recovery for two years.
Many specialists said 12 is considered a gateway age for inhalant use. Still, the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would like to slam that gate shut.
It is kicking off National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week, which starts on Sunday. The American Osteopathic Association also is joining the national effort.
Start Your Recovery Journey Now
At United Recovery Project, we offer intensive and unique programs for patients dealing with inhalants addiction and other kinds of drug addictions. We offer various luxury treatment services to our patients including: drug detox, partial hospitalization programs, intensive outpatient programs & sober living and alumni program.
Throughout your stay at the facility, you will be monitored by a team of specialists to ensure you have a comfortable and safe recovery process.
If you or someone you love is struggling with a inhalants addiction, do not hesitate to call us on: 855-580-4810 to start your drug addiction treatment.
