The New Adolescent High: Abusing Household Supplies

Some adolescents are using common household products from the medicine chest or the laundry room to get high. Catalyst explores the dangers of this behavior and points the way to recovery.

By Angela Sivak, NCPC Staff

It’s a sad fact that 55 percent of 12^th graders in the United States have experimented with drugs, according to data collected in 2007 by Capella University. But some are no longer choosing marijuana, hashish, cocaine, meth, or other drugs as their substance of choice. Instead, a growing number of tweens and teens are turning to household products to get high. Since household products are more available and less expensive than prescription drugs, they present an easier way for youth to get intoxicated.  And they can easily find these substances at home or buy them at a pharmacy without attracting suspicion. On the occasion of National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, Catalyst has prepared this report.

Abuse of household products has increased since the 1980s. In the past three decades, households have filled up with substances such as paint thinner, fabric protector, paper correction fluid, glues, and deodorant sprays that contain toxic chemicals that substance abusers can use to get high. Parents are less cautious about keeping these substances away from their children because they never dreamed their children would use them to get intoxicated.

Young people abuse these products by sniffing them through their noses, huffing them by soaking towels and putting the towels in their mouths, or bagging them by inhaling them after pouring them into a plastic or paper bag.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the abuse of inhalants comes mostly from adolescents ages 12 to 17. In 2007, 3.9 percent of adolescents abused inhalants in the past year compared to only 1.6 percent of people ages 18 to 25. Sixty-six percent of adolescents who first tried inhalants in the past year were between ages 12 and 17.

These children are putting their health at great risk. Inhalants displace the air in their lungs, which deprives the body of oxygen and creates a condition called hypoxia. Hypoxia can damage cells in the body, especially in the brain. Abuse can also break down myelin, a fatty tissue protecting nerve fibers. When myelin is damaged, the muscles suffer spasms and tremors and may no longer be able to perform basic motor functions such as walking. There is even such a thing as “sudden sniffing death,” where the inhaler dies within minutes of sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays.

Harvey Weiss, the director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition says, “Inhalants are very volatile. You can die the first time or the fifth time from abusing inhalants. It's like playing Russian roulette.... I speak to 100 to 125 parents a year whose children have died from inhalants.”

One of the most effective ways of preventing drug abuse is by educating people about its dangers. The National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC) works to expand awareness education and inhalant abuse prevention. Every third week in March, NIPC sponsors the National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week, which the organization says has been responsible for a reduction in inhalant use. According to the annual Monitoring the Future study in 2005, 5 percent of 12th graders and 9.5 percent of 8th graders had abused inhalants in the past year. The same study done in 2008 showed only 3.8 percent of 12th graders and 8.9 percent of eighth graders had abused inhalants in the past year. While this is progress, drug abuse is still a very serious disease that requires treatment before an abuser can become sober. Through treatment tailored to individual needs, kids can recover from drug abuse and lead productive lives. Treatment usually involves the use of medication and behavioral therapy. Medication helps with the detoxification process and suppresses withdrawal symptoms and relapse. Behavioral therapy helps patients develop healthy life skills and different attitudes and behaviors towards drug abuse. Treatment programs also offer community or family-based recovery support systems to help patients stay sober.

There’s no easy way to say it: Many kids today are in trouble with drugs or facing peer pressure that could get them in trouble. It’s up to crime prevention practitioners, school resource officers, school counselors, and others who work with young people to help them avoid this dangerous behavior or steer them into programs that will help them deal with their addictions.