Chemical Inhalants

BASIC FACTS ABOUT DRUGS:

INHALANTS

What are Inhalants?

Inhalants are drugs that produce a quick, temporary high; lightheadedness; and euphoria (good feeling) when their fumes or gases are breathed and absorbed into the body through the lungs. The high is sometimes compared to the sensation of being drunk. It tends to last only a short time, from a few minutes to about three-quarters of an hour. It may be followed by after-effects like those of an alcohol hangover, such as drowsiness, headache, or nausea, which last for an hour or two.

Compared with other recreational drugs, inhalants are readily available and relatively cheap. Many of them can be obtained legally, even by minors, for more than a thousand common household products can be used to get high. It is partly for this reason, and partly because they are mistakenly believed to be safer than other recreational drugs, that inhalants are especially popular among children and young adolescents.

The average age at which adolescents first try these drugs is 13, and one eighth grader in five has used them. Dangerous and potentially lethal in their own right, inhalants often also serve as a gateway to other, stronger drugs.

What are the Main Types?

There are three main types of inhalants:

Organic solvents are liquid compounds of carbon that have the power to break down, or dissolve, other carbon compounds. Organic solvents are also highly volatile; they readily evaporate from a liquid to a gas or aerosol, which can be inhaled.

Many common products are either based on organic solvents or contain high concentrations of them. They include gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighter fuel, spray paint, paint thinners and removers, transparent glue, rubber-cement thinner, hair spray, nail polish remover, degreasers, and cleaning fluids. Organic solvents are the easiest inhalants to obtain and the most dangerous to abuse.

Nitrites are compounds of nitrogen and act mainly as vasodilators, causing the walls of...