WASHINGTON — The drugs of choice for children aged 12 and 13 years are inhalants, surpassing pain relievers, marijuana, and any other illegal drug, with 3.4% of 12-year-olds and 4.8% of 13-year-olds using in the past year, according to a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
In addition, data from eighth-graders who participated in the Monitoring the Future survey conducted at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, revealed a 9.3% prevalence of inhalant abuse in females in that age group, and 8.3% overall prevalence.
These data were presented at a press briefing on inhalant abuse at which Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of SAMHSA's Center for Drug Abuse Treatment, and other experts spoke about identifying and preventing inhalant abuse in patients, especially teens.
“Products that we consider essential to our daily routines, that tend to be almost invisible because they are so common, can be deadly if used inappropriately,” he said.
Some of those products include model airplane glue, hair spray, air freshener, deodorant, computer cleaning spray, nail polish remover, gasoline, Freon, vegetable cooking spray, whipped cream, and the gases nitrous oxide, butane, propane, and helium.
“According to our data from the household survey, about 1 million adolescents used inhalants in 2006,” Dr. Clark said.
He also cited data from a companion study, based on data from admissions to substance abuse treatment programs, which found that there was a higher likelihood of co-occurring substance abuse and psychiatric disorders in those who used inhalants (45%) than in those who do not (29%).
In an interview, Dr. Clark said physicians need to be more vigilant of the potential for inhalant use in young people. If a child shows up for asthma, skin disease, or with behavior problems, one should ask about misuse of inhalants. And visits for medical checkups for school athletics or for vaccinations, provide “plenty of opportunity to raise the issue and have the discussion.”
Morbidity can manifest as a range of problems, from cardiac to neurological. Possible effects of inhalant abuse include “sudden sniffing death,” and long-term abuse can result in memory or hearing loss, brain or bone marrow damage, and liver and kidney problems.
The full report is available online at http://oas.samhsa.gov/inhalants.htm