Inhalant abuse

Although inhalant abuse has become less prevalent since the early 1990s in all age groups, it remains a source of injury and death. "Huffers" can become addicted, suffer brain damage or worse. The highest rate of abuse was among children ages 12 to 17. 10% to 15% of all U.S. teens are estimated to use inhalants at some point. Of the cases for which a definitive outcome could be determined, 0.9% died, 4.5% had a life-threatening or disabling outcome, 30.7% had a moderate outcome, 38.4% had a minor outcome, and 25.4% were not affected. More than 200 inhalant product categories were implicated, with propellants such as aerosol dusters (15.6%), gasoline (13.1%), and paint (10.4%) being the most frequently abused inhalants. The overall rate of death from inhalant abuse was 5.5 per 1,000 exposures, which was much higher than for exposures from pharmaceuticals (0.4) and nonpharmaceuticals (0.14). the deadliest substance was butane (58.1 deaths per 1,000), followed by propane (25.9), air fresheners (21.8), and nitrous oxide (13.7). Abuse of inhalants early in life has been found to be a fast track to serious psychiatric problems and anti-sociality later on in adulthood. Early abusers of inhalants are more likely to become dependent on nicotine, develop alcohol abuse disorders, or become addicted to methamphetamine. One of the most effective tools to combat abuse is community awareness. One study concluded, "Focusing inhalant prevention efforts on the most hazardous products and most seriously affected users may improve and facilitate strategic prevention, enabling interventions such as targeted education, product reformulation, repacking, relabeling, or prohibition of sales of especially hazardous inhalant products to youth."