INHALANT ABUSE UP AMONG YOUTH

[Alfa]

INHALANT ABUSE UP AMONG YOUTH

Study: Chemicals Are Only Group of Drugs on the Rise

Diane Stem of Old Hickory, Tenn., vividly remembers the day she was called
home by her distraught husband and daughter: Her 16-year-old son, Ricky Joe
Stem Jr., had been found dead in the house with a plastic bag over his
head. He had been sniffing Freon from the house's air-conditioning system.

Toy Johnson Slayton of St. Simon's Island, Ga., remembers the police coming
to her home in December 2001 after her 17-year-old son Johnson Bryant was
found dead in his truck after going into cardiac arrest and hitting a tree.
A can of butane and a surgical glove were found with the body - police told
her they thought her son had been "huffing."

"I looked at the man and said, 'What does that mean?'" she said. "I am so
angry because this was not on my radar screen.

We had discussed the dangers of drugs and alcohol, but never, ever in my
wildest dreams had I known to look at a can of butane with fear."

A hidden epidemic is gaining momentum in America, experts say. Children are
deliberately inhaling the fumes of dangerous chemicals from a variety of
household and office products.

Inhalants, as they are known, are widely available and hard to detect, and
are fueling a dangerous trend: The most reliable annual survey of drug use
among children has found that inhalants are the one group of drugs in which
abuse is on the rise. The chemicals travel rapidly to the brain to produce
highs similar to alcohol intoxication.

Unlike the effect of alcohol, these highs disappear within minutes, making
it hard for parents to detect the abuse. The products, which can include
gasoline, cigarette lighter fluid, cleaning supplies and adhesives, are
often highly toxic and addictive.

Some indications suggest the problem may be growing faster among girls.
Overall, nearly one in five eighth-graders has tried an inhalant, usually
by breathing from a rag or a bag doused with the chemical.

The increase in abuse has tracked a sharp drop in youngsters' perceptions
of the risks of inhalants, said Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the
University of Michigan who helps conduct the annual "Monitoring the Future"
survey of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders.