Most inhalant drugs that are used non-medically are ingredients in household or industrial chemical products that are not intended to be concentrated and inhaled. •
Hydrocarbon poisoning • Gases •
Butane •
Propane • Solvents •
Gasoline/
petrol •
Toluene • Liquid/gas mixtures •
Freon • Ketones • Solvents •
Acetone Solvents A wide range of volatile
solvents intended for household or industrial use are inhaled as
recreational drugs. This includes
petroleum products (gasoline and
kerosene),
toluene (used in
paint thinner,
permanent markers,
contact cement and model glue), and
acetone (used in
nail polish remover). These solvents vaporize at room temperature. Until the early 1990s, the most common solvents that were used for the ink in
permanent markers were
toluene and
xylene. These two substances are both harmful and characterized by a very strong smell. Today, the ink is usually made on the basis of alcohols (e.g.
1-Propanol,
1-butanol,
diacetone alcohol and
cresols). Organochlorine solvents are particularly hazardous; many of these are now restricted in developed countries due to their environmental impact.
Legality which vaporize at room temperature. Even though solvent glue is normally a legal product, there is a 1983 case where a court ruled that supplying glue to children is illegal.
Khaliq v HM Advocate was a Scottish criminal case decided by the
High Court of Justiciary on appeal, in which it was decided that it was an offense at
common law to supply glue-sniffing materials that were otherwise legal in the knowledge that they would be used recreationally by children. Two shopkeepers in
Glasgow were arrested and charged for supplying children with "glue-sniffing kits" consisting of a quantity of petroleum-based glue in a plastic bag. They argued there was nothing illegal about the items that they had supplied. On appeal, the High Court took the view that, even though glue and plastic bags might be perfectly legal, everyday items, the two shopkeepers knew perfectly well that the children were going to use the articles as inhalants and the charge on the indictment should stand. When the case came to trial at Glasgow High Court the two were sentenced to three years' imprisonment. As of 2023, in England, Scotland, and Wales it is illegal to sell inhalants, including solvent glues, to persons of any age likely to use them as an intoxicant. in locations where
leaded gas is not banned.
Toluene Toluene can damage
myelin.
Gases A number of gases intended for household or industrial use are inhaled as recreational drugs. This includes
chlorofluorocarbons used in aerosols and propellants (e.g., aerosol hair spray, aerosol deodorant). A gas used as a propellant in
whipped cream aerosol containers, nitrous oxide, is used as a recreational drug. Pressurized canisters of
propane and
butane gas, both of which are intended for use as fuels, are used as inhalants.
Legality "New Jersey... prohibits selling or offering to sell minors products containing chlorofluorocarbon that is used in refrigerant."
Dangers Statistics on deaths caused by heavy inhalant use are difficult to determine. It may be severely under-reported because death is often attributed to a discrete event such as a stroke or a heart attack, even if the event happened because of inhalant use. Inhalant use was mentioned on 144 death certificates in
Texas during the period 1988–1998 and was reported in 39 deaths in Virginia between 1987 and 1996 from acute voluntary exposure to used inhalants.
Chronic solvent-induced encephalopathy Chronic solvent-induced
encephalopathy (CSE) is a condition induced by long-term exposure to organic
solvents, often—but not always—in the workplace, that lead to a wide variety of persisting sensorimotor
polyneuropathies and neurobehavioral deficits even after solvent exposure has been removed.
Sudden sniffing death syndrome Sudden sniffing death syndrome, first described by
Millard Bass in 1970, is commonly known as SSDS. Solvents have many potential risks in common, including pneumonia,
cardiac failure or arrest, Female inhalant users who are pregnant may have adverse effects on the fetus, and the baby may be smaller when it is born and may need additional health care (similar to those seen with alcohol –
fetal alcohol syndrome). There is some evidence of birth defects and disabilities in babies born to women who sniffed solvents such as gasoline. Inhaling
butane gas can cause drowsiness,
unconsciousness,
asphyxia, and cardiac arrhythmia. Butane is the most commonly misused volatile solvent in the UK and caused 52% of solvent-related deaths in 2000. When butane is sprayed directly into the throat, the jet of fluid can cool rapidly to −20 °C by
adiabatic expansion, causing prolonged
laryngospasm. Some inhalants can also indirectly cause sudden death by cardiac arrest, in a syndrome known as "sudden sniffing death". The anaesthetic gases present in the inhalants appear to sensitize the user to adrenaline and, in this state, a sudden surge of adrenaline (e.g., from a frightening hallucination or run-in with aggressors), may cause fatal
cardiac arrhythmia. Furthermore, the inhalation of any gas that is capable of displacing oxygen in the lungs (especially gases heavier than oxygen) carries the risk of
hypoxia as a result of the very mechanism by which breathing is triggered. Since reflexive breathing is prompted by elevated carbon dioxide levels (rather than diminished blood oxygen levels), breathing a concentrated, relatively inert gas (such as computer-duster
tetrafluoroethane, helium or nitrous oxide) that removes carbon dioxide from the blood without replacing it with oxygen will produce no outward signs of suffocation even when the brain is experiencing hypoxia. Once full symptoms of hypoxia appear, it may be too late to breathe without assistance, especially if the gas is heavy enough to lodge in the lungs for extended periods. Even completely inert gases, such as
argon, can have this effect if oxygen is largely excluded.
Patterns of use Inhalant drugs are often used by children, teenagers, incarcerated or institutionalized people, and impoverished people, because these solvents and gases are ingredients in hundreds of legally available, inexpensive products, such as
deodorant sprays,
hair spray,
contact cement and aerosol
air fresheners. However, most users tend to be "... adolescents (between the ages of 12 and 17)." In some countries, chronic, heavy inhalant use is concentrated in marginalized, impoverished communities. Young people who become used to heavy amounts of inhalants chronically are also more likely to be those who are isolated from their families and community. The article "Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse: An International Perspective" notes that "[t]he most serious form of obsession with inhalant use probably occurs in countries other than the United States where young children live on the streets completely without family ties. These groups almost always use inhalants at very high levels (Leal et al. 1978). This isolation can make it harder to keep in touch with the sniffer and encourage him or her to stop sniffing." Similar incidents of glue sniffing among destitute youth in the
Philippines have also been reported, most commonly from groups of street children and teenagers collectively known as
"Rugby" boys, which were named after a brand of toluene-laden contact cement. Other toluene-containing substances have also been used, most notably the Vulca Seal brand of roof sealants.
Bostik Philippines, which currently owns the Rugby and Vulca Seal brands, has since responded to the issue by adding
bitterants such as
mustard oil to their Rugby line, as well as reformulating it by replacing toluene with
xylene. Several other manufacturers have also followed suit. Another very common inhalant is Erase-X, a
correction fluid that contains toluene. It has become very common for school and college students to use it, because it is easily available in stationery shops in India. This fluid is also used by street and working children in Delhi.
Europe and North America In the UK, marginalized youth use a number of inhalants, such as solvents and propellants. In Russia and Eastern Europe, gasoline sniffing became common on Russian ships following attempts to limit the supply of
alcohol to ship crews in the 1980s. The documentary
Children Underground depicts the huffing of a solvent called
Aurolac (a product used in chroming) by Romanian homeless children. During the
interwar period, the inhalation of
ether (
etheromania) was widespread in some regions of Poland, especially in
Upper Silesia. Tens of thousands of people were affected by this problem. In Canada, Native children in the isolated Northern Labrador community of
Davis Inlet were the focus of national concern in 1993, when many were found to be sniffing gasoline. The Canadian and provincial
Newfoundland and Labrador governments intervened on a number of occasions, sending many children away for treatment. Despite being moved to the new community of
Natuashish in 2002, serious inhalant use problems have continued. Similar problems were reported in
Sheshatshiu in 2000 and also in
Pikangikum First Nation. In 2012, the issue once again made the news media in Canada. In Mexico, the inhaling of a mixture of gasoline and industrial solvents, known locally as "Activo" or "Chemo", has risen in popularity among the homeless and among the street children of
Mexico City in the 21st century. The mixture is poured onto a handkerchief and inhaled while held in one's fist. In the US,
ether was used as a recreational drug during the 1930s
Prohibition era, when alcohol was made illegal. Ether was either sniffed or drunk and, in some towns, replaced alcohol entirely. However, the risk of death from excessive sedation or overdose is greater than that with alcohol, and ether drinking is associated with damage to the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. Use of glue, paint and gasoline became more common after the 1950s. Model airplane glue-sniffing as problematic behavior among youth was first reported in 1959 and increased in the 1960s. Use of aerosol sprays became more common in the 1980s, as older propellants such as
CFCs were phased out and replaced by more environmentally friendly compounds such as
propane and
butane. Most inhalant solvents and gases are not regulated under drug laws such as the United States
Controlled Substances Act. However, many US states and Canadian cities have placed restrictions on the sale of some solvent-containing products to minors, particularly for products widely associated with sniffing, such as
model cement. The practice of
inhaling such substances is sometimes colloquially referred to as huffing, sniffing (or glue sniffing), dusting, or chroming.
Australia Australia has long faced a petrol (gasoline) sniffing problem in isolated and impoverished
aboriginal communities. Although some sources argue that sniffing was introduced by United States
servicemen stationed in the nation's
Top End during
World War II or through experimentation by 1940s-era
Cobourg Peninsula sawmill workers, other sources claim that inhalant abuse (such as glue inhalation) emerged in Australia in the late 1960s. A 1983 survey of 4,165 secondary students in New South Wales showed that solvents and aerosols ranked just after analgesics (e.g., codeine pills) and alcohol for drugs that were inappropriately used. This 1983 study did not find any common usage patterns or social class factors. Opal is a non-sniffable fuel (which is much less likely to cause a high) and has made a difference in some indigenous communities. ==Administration and effects==