Parents must educate themselves about youth inhalant use

If you think "huffing" is something just the Three Little Pigs had to watch out for, the wolf may come knocking at your door. Huffing, bagging and sniffing are terms for inhalant use, a cheap, legal and easy way that young people get high.

Inhalant use has become a silent epidemic. Why? Parents are out of the loop. Children discuss it and practice it; adults stay in the dark. A recent study by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission showed that 95 percent of parents believe their child has never abused inhalants.

Yet, almost one in five eighth-graders has intentionally inhaled everyday office, school and household products at the risk of brain damage and even death, reports the 2002 National Institute on Drug Abuse "Monitoring the Future Survey."

Over two million young people used inhalants in 2001. Inhalant abuse, most common in the 10-12 age bracket, is also considered a "gateway drug," a student’s first form of substance abuse before "graduating" to other drugs.

Inhalants are as close as the kitchen sink or your child’s classroom. Abusable products include butane, propane, gasoline, Freon, degreasers, typewriter correction fluid, nitrous oxide, whipped cream, shoe polish, spray paints, paint thinner, air freshener etc.

Call Prevention First at (732) 663-1800, Ext. 16 and ask for a free copy of "A Parents Guide to Preventing Inhalant Abuse." We must educate our children about inhalants before they educate themselves.

Mary Pat Angelini

Prevention First

Oakhurst