Inhalants

Virginia's SAFE Coalition has received the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors 2010 National Exemplary Award for Innovative Substance Abuse Prevention Programs, Practices, and Policies for decreasing lifetime inhalant use among eighth-graders in their county.

Advocates are hailing Rep. Charles Murphy (D-Massachusetts) and the passage of a bill which provides a treatment option to a growing number of Massachusetts families who suffer the destructive effects of inhalant abuse. Commonly referred to as "huffing," and most prevalent among 12-17-year olds, inhalant abuse is the purposeful inhalation of chemical vapors to achieve intoxication.

Although inhalant abuse has become less prevalent since the early 1990s in all age groups, it remains a source of injury and death, particularly among teenagers, researchers have found.

Approximately 143,000 young people aged 12 to 17 used inhalants in the past year while dealing with a condition like pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, or sinusitis, according to a new study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

More 12–year-olds have used potentially lethal inhalants than have used marijuana, cocaine and hallucinogens combined, according to data released today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition's press conference to kick off its 18th annual National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week.

While some illicit drugs are on the decline, according to the 2009 Monitoring the Future survey, inhalants are the number one drug of choice by "tweens" and middle schoolers. National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week (NIPAW), held March 14-20, is an opportunity to raise awareness of the dangers of inhalants and to get your community engaged on this issue.

While there were slight decreases in the use of cocaine and methamphetamine among youth, teen marijuana use showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey, marijuana use among adolescents has increased gradually over the past two years after years of declining use; and past year rates of Vicodin and OxyContin abuse increased during the last 5 years among 10th graders and remained unchanged among 8th and 12th graders. The MTF Survey, which surveys youth in 8th, 10th and 12th graders, was released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the University of Michigan.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Michigan released the findings from the 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey. The survey showed that while there were decreases in the use of cocaine, methamphetamine and LSD among youth, marijuana and prescription drug abuse showed no signs of slowing down. This toolkit includes tools that coalitions can use to obtain local media coverage of these findings, such as talking points, a news summary of the findings and a news release template.

Surveys have indicated a disturbing and potentially fatal trend in communities across the country: inhalant abuse among teenagers and young children. The 15th Annual National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week, taking place March 18-24, presents an opportunity to bring this issue to the radar screen and to launch community-wide prevention efforts.

Almost five percent of girls between the ages of 12 and 17 used inhalants to get high in 2005, an increase from 4.1 percent in 2002, while boys remained fairly constant with 4.2 percent reporting use in 2005. Together, the data show that an estimated 1.1 million adolescents used inhalants in the past year, even though huffing these common household substances can be fatal. The data was unveiled last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at a press conference by the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition to kick off the 15th Annual National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week (NIPAW).

National figures show that approximately one in six students in the United States has used an inhalant to get high by the time he or she reaches the 8th grade. To help combat this trend, in a new report the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends greater awareness and screening in pediatric care, urging pediatricians to help educate the community about the dangers of inhalant abuse.

Today, more than 1 in 5 children in the U.S. will abuse inhalants by the time they reach the eighth grade. In Illinois, health providers, schools, counseling groups and poison control centers have joined forces with the Alliance for Consumer Education (ACE) to try to prevent children and teens from engaging in this potentially fatal activity.

A commercial airing nationally by fast food chain Wendy´s has sparked concern among prevention advocates, who say it sends the wrong message to kids about inhalants and normalizes something that has proved deadly for some teens.

After a school survey showed that eighth-grade students in Chesterfield County, Va. were abusing inhalants at a rate twice the national average, the Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE) Coalition implemented a comprehensive prevention strategy targeting everyone from parents and youth to school bus drivers and guidance counselors.