News

A Warning Flag Against Latest Fad 'High' for Teens
Boston Globe -September , 2005

Generations of teenagers have sniffed common household products from glue to Whiteout to the propane in cigarette lighters for a cheap, easy route to intoxication. But the danger posed by the latest inhalant of choice, a common computer keyboard cleaner called "Dust-Off," has prompted area police to warn parents and teens that the "high" could be fatal.

Inhaling the compressed gas can cause brain damage and heart failure by robbing the lungs of oxygen, authorities say.

In March, a 14-year-old boy from Ohio was found dead in his bed with a canister beside him. His death has received wide attention after his father, a police sergeant, posted a cautionary letter on the Internet that has caught the notice of police, educators, and parents.


Last summer, three California teenagers died in a car crash, and a can of Dust-Off was found inside the vehicle. In July, a teenager passed out in a West Hartford, Conn., drugstore after inhaling Dust-Off, then arose moments later to do it again, according to newspaper reports.

In response, Falcon Safety Products, the maker of Dust-Off, released a statement citing the dangers of inhalant abuse and highlighting its efforts to combat the problem. Many stores, including Staples and Wal-Mart, have banned sales of the product to minors.

Teenagers "huffing" vapors or, in the case of Dust-Off, "dusting" is a long-standing problem. Although inhalant abuse declined after the mid-1990s, it has accelerated of late, youth surveys show. According to a 2003 study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, use among middle school students had risen by 44 percent as fewer youngsters viewed inhalant use as dangerous.
   

Roughly one in four eighth-graders reported trying an inhalant at least once, the survey found, while the practice declined in high school, with older teens beginning to dismiss it as childish.

Alejandro Rivera, program director for Impact Quincy, a substance-abuse prevention program, calls inhalant use "the silent epidemic" because it receives less attention than teen drug or alcohol use.
  

Parents do not typically discuss inhalants with their children, focusing instead on drugs and alcohol.

Bill Phillips, who talks with students and parents across the state about the dangers of drug and inhalant abuse through his Framingham-based program, "New Beginnings," said adults are stunned when he tells them middle-schoolers are breathing vapors just for kicks. "Parents go out of their minds that kids would go to those lengths to get high," he said. "Dust-Off is the most extreme."
   
Parents' ignorance carries a cost, experts say. If not explicitly told otherwise, youngsters often see inhalants as mindless fun without serious consequences.

"One of the difficulties in inhalant abuse is that youngsters see them as otherwise legal products," said Michael Botticelli, assistant commissioner for substance abuse services at the state Department of Public Health. But while the products are legal to obtain, inhaling them is against the law, he noted.

Inhalants are alluring to youngsters for other reasons, too.
 "There's no odor, no residue. It's much harder to get caught," said Howard Wolfe, who directs the New England Inhalant Abuse Prevention Coalition, which works with schools, the courts, and youth groups. "It's a way to use a drug without getting involved in a drug deal. With inhalants, you can just go to a drugstore."
   

Dominic DiNatale, executive director of DARE Massachusetts, offered by local police departments, said he believes the use of inhalants is far more widespread in more rural areas, as surveys have suggested. "We know it's out there, but no one really talks about it," he said.
   

The practice claims more than 100 lives a year nationwide, according to Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. "Everyone's talking about meth right now," he said, referring to the stimulant methamphetamine, "but far more people are using inhalants."

Jeff Williams, the Cleveland-area police sergeant whose son died of chemical asphyxiation in March after using Dust-Off, said the teen didn't think he was doing anything especially wrong or dangerous.
  

"Kyle had been told by friends that it couldn't hurt him," Williams said. "He thought it was just a playful thing."

Williams said the coroner's report concluded that Kyle's heart stopped immediately after he had inhaled the Dust-Off, with a chemical in the product found in his bloodstream.

© 1996 D.A.R.E. America. All Rights Reserved. D.A.R.E. and the D.A.R.E. logo are trademarks of D.A.R.E. America.
PO Box 512090 Los Angeles, CA 90051

Read our Privacy Guidelines.
Check out Content Rating.