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Over 17 Percent of Youth who Use Drugs Start with Inhalants
Statement from SAMHSA Acting Administrator Dr. Eric Broderick in MP3 format:
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How do adolescents start using drugs? Over 17-percent who use drugs start by sniffing inhalants.
A new report by HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) finds that 17.2-percent of youth ages 12-17 started using drugs by sniffing household products.
These youth sniff products such as: refrigerant from air-conditioning units; aerosol computer cleaners; shoe polish; glue; air fresheners; hair sprays; nail polish; paint solvents; degreasers; gasoline; or lighter fluids. Youngsters intentionally inhale these substances to get high. Most parents are not aware that use of inhalants can cause "Sudden Sniffing Death"--immediate death due to cardiac arrest--or can lead to addiction and other health risks.
The study--"Trends in Adolescent Inhalant Use: 2002-2007"--combines data from six years of National Surveys on Drug Use and Health to create a picture of substances that first attract young teens. The data--released at the kick-off for the 17th-annual National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week--show that, consistently, marijuana, non-medical use of prescription drugs, and inhalants have been the top three choices.
The picture on inhalant use is mixed. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) data in its Monitoring the Future study show that, looking forward, youth in eighth grade see many fewer dangers in using inhalants. The perception of harmfulness in trying inhalants once or twice is as its lowest point among eighth-graders since they started being surveyed, in 1991. NIDA and SAMHSA both show data indicating that use of inhalants was going down through 2007; however, NIDA's 2008 data show an uptick of 0.6-percent in annual use by eighth-graders. The SAMHSA data show a decline in overall use of inhalants by youth ages 12-17 from 2002 to 2007--but no decline in dependence on or abuse of inhalants. The SAMHSA report shows past-year use of inhalants by those ages 12-17 declining from 4.4-percent, in 2002, to 3.9-percent, in 2007.
National Inhalant Prevention Coalition information is available on the Web at http://www.inhalants.org. SAMHSA's data is available at http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k9/inhalantTrends/inhalantTrends.cfm. NIDA's inhalants findings are at http://www.inhalants.drugabuse.gov.
