The Dangers of Huffing: Info on the Perils of Inhaling Toxic Chemicals

It seems like kids today are always trying to find new ways to escape the strange and uncomfortable way they feel during their pre-teen and teenager years. Some experiment with drugs like pot, others with a variety of pills like ecstasy, but over the past few years, a new way to achieve a high has been found. It's called huffing and it involves inhaling the fumes from toxic substances. The most common and probably the most publicized substance used is paint. Kids, and even adults, spray or pour paint into a paper bag, place their nose and mouth over the opening of the bag and breathe in. Because the lungs are filled with blood vessels, the gas of the inhalant is quickly absorbed directly into the blood stream, which signals the brain almost immediately. This produces an instantaneous high.

The high is caused when the chemical in the gas acts on the brain to change the mood. Unfortunately, the brain becomes accustomed to feeling a certain way and will actually become dependant on the chemical that causes the reaction, which means the person can easily become addicted and will feel a real need to continue abusing the inhalant. In addition to paint mentioned above, kids can find easy access to a number of household and legal products like paint thinner, rubber cement, lighter fluid, gasoline and even white out. A lot of manufacturing companies have eliminated the toxicity from their mixtures so the vapors won't be harmful.

But for those products that still produce toxic fumes, kids manage to find ways to sneak around and abuse them. An example of one of the products that is small and portable is white out. Teachers have reported that children smuggle it into school in their backpacks or sometimes even have it available in class. Anyone can buy it in the local drug store or office supply store. Most paint products, however, are now placed behind locked doors and only sold to adults. This prevents young children from buying the products, but they still manage to get their hands on it occasionally. Fortunately, teachers and parents are becoming more aware of the products.

Some children have had serious effects, other that hallucinations, from huffing, including passing out, aspirating vomit or even dying from the lack of oxygen. Some of the effects are temporary, but over time, brain cells can actually be destroyed, never to be replaced. Even young children are susceptible to having a heart attack due to the stress huffing places on the heart and nervous system in general. While it's very difficult to eliminate all toxic substances, it's not too late to educate children and their parents about the harmful effects that it can cause.