National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week Slated for March 16-23

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use & Health, about 1.1 million youths aged 12 to 17 used an inhalant in the 12 months prior to being surveyed. National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week, taking place March 16-23, 2008, presents an opportunity to bring this issue to the radar screen and to launch community-wide prevention campaigns about this alarming trend.

Inhalant use refers to the intentional breathing of gas or vapors with the purpose of reaching a high. Inhalants are legal, everyday products which have a useful purpose, but can be misused. Some examples of inhalants include spray paint, air freshener, glue, shoe polish, or toluene, gasoline or lighter fluid, nitrous oxide or "whippets", and typewrite correction fluid.

National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week (NIPAW), created by the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC), is an annual media-based, community-level program that is designed to increase understanding about the use and risks of inhalant involvement and involve all sectors of the community in the prevention effort.

“Inhalants are usually the first substances that a young person will get involved with. If you can get a child to make the appropriate choices for themselves early on, you stand a better chance for them to not get involved in other things, said Harvey Weiss, Executive Director of NIPC. “Education and awareness are the cornerstones of inhalant prevention and local coalitions can join the more than 700 participants from across the country in this effort.”

A number of tools and resources are available at www.inhalants.org to help coalitions integrate inhalant prevention in their community-wide drug prevention strategy, including a local coordinator’s kit.

Editor’s note: Harvey Weiss will be among CADCA’s guests for the CADCA TV show “Household Highs” which airs March 27, 2008 from 1-2 p.m. at www.cadca.org.