California Girl Dead After Huffing From Air Conditioner

Via the San Bernardino Sun in California:


A 12 year old girl is dead after huffing refrigerant from an air conditioning unit in California.

On February 28^th, her mom received a call from her family telling her they had found the girl on the bathroom floor of her grandmother’s house, where she lived, and she wasn’t breathing. Four days later she was taken off life support. The girl’s cousins admitted to having huffed previously and noted it was a common occurrence in their middle school.

Two Students May Face Expulsion for Huffing

Via Fort Mill Times in South Carolina:

Two middle school students in South Carolina were suspended after they were found huffing a “gas like substance” in a bathroom at their school. Reports say the substance was similar to the gasoline used in model cars, and the students were using it to get high. Although the Sheriff’s office was called, a district representative did not believe the students had been charged. The students were suspended for ten days, and will face a hearing with school district officials. District policy recommends expulsion in cases of substance abuse.

The school’s drug prevention program does cover huffing, and the director of a local drug awareness program encourages parents to talk to young children about inhalant abuse and to be careful when storing containers that could be used for huffing.

Inhalant Abuse Common Amongst Youth in Indianan County

In a study done by by the Community Research and Service Center at Valparaiso University for Porter County, it was found that "1.4 percent of sixth graders reported monthly use of inhalants, 5.9 percent of 10th graders did, and 1.3 percent of 12th graders did; on the other hand, 2.5 percent of sixth graders reported using inhalants at least once, 10.5 percent of eighth graders did, and 12.4 percent of 12th graders did."

This study was done as an assessment to see what contributing factors may cause youth to involve themselves in risky behavior later in life.

Via chestertontribune.com in Chesterton, IN

New Inhalant Data from Illinois

Via the Canton Daily Ledger in Illinois:

The 2010 Illinois Youth Survey data for both Ingersoll Middle School and Canton High School has been released. In both cases, 8% of students report they have used inhalants in the past year. The article also notes that for local high school seniors, the 2010 survey found that 5% had used inhalants.

New Inhalant Data for Knox County Tennessee

Via KnoxNews.com in Tennessee:

The 2010 Youth Risk Behavior Survey results were recently released for Knox County Middle School students. The survey revealed that 8% of the students have tried inhalants which is similar to the 2008 survey findings

New Inhalant Data in Door County, Wisconsin

From the Green Bay Gazette in Wisconsin:

An interesting inhalant related stat in the article: According to the 2010 Door County Youth Risk Behavior Survey "One in Eight Door County middle school students are using inhalants — such as paints, glues, gases, or cleaners to get high"

Middle School Students Fall Ill After High

From the Daily Pilot (March 19):

Four middle school students at a California school were taken to the hospital late last week after ingesting ecstacy. The students, who were all girls, combined the pills with hits from an aerosol product and fell ill soon thereafter.

One girl faded in and out of consciousness during her visit to the nurse. In response, the nurse called paramedics. The eighth graders, ranging from 12-14, were all taken as a precaution after school officials caught wind of their activity.

Huffing While Driving

From Fox 13 News:

Utah police are monitoring an increase in a phenomenon known as huffing while driving whereby drivers huff inhalants whilst operating a vehicle. Police say the effects are similar to being drunk and, like alcohol, the effect can wear off quickly. The burgeoning practice has been reported in several parts of the United States as it gained popularity during the last two years. In one Utah town alone police reported at least six incidents over the past year.

However this trend is indicative of habits teens embraced before they got behind the wheel. Surveys conducted in Utah secondary schools found that 6 % of 6th graders and 9% of 8th graders had abused inhalants. This supports a national statistic which indicates inhalant usage amongst one in five middle school students.

A local health official believes a lack of awareness is largely to blame. He says, "We think to talk to our kids about alcohol use, we think to talk to them about marijuana, maybe other substances, but a lot of times we don't think to talk to them about inhalants."

New Inhalant Data from Oregon

From the McMinnville News-Register in Oregon:

The Dayton Together Coalition for a Drug-free Community recently released inhalant related data:

“Current statistics show that by 13 years of age, 14 percent of youths have sniffed inhalants”

New Inhalant Data from Tennessee

From the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee:

The results of the 2008 Knox County Middle School Youth Risk Behavior Survey were recently released. The survey, given for the first time to more than 1,000 students in 14 schools, measured behaviors in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.

The survey revealed that 8.6% of the students had abused inhalants.

Inhalant Data from Massachusetts

From the Norton Mirror in Raynham, Massachusetts

Inhalant related data from a survey administered to Norton middle and high school students in June, 2009:

• 5.2 percent of the middle school students report having used an inhalant in the past 30 days

Increased Inhalant Use among Hopkington Schools in Massachusetts

From the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Massachusetts

The MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation sponsored a survey of regional teen health risks and the results were presented to the school committee last Thursday.

Interestingly, the survey notes that “after alcohol, inhalants are the most commonly abused substance for middle school students.” It continues, “the number of students trying inhalants at some point in their lives rose from 9 percent to 14 percent.

The Assistant Principal said the school is now looking at "how and why students are abusing substances and where they get their supplies."

3 Hollywood Students Hospitalized

From KABC News Los Angeles, California:

Early Friday morning, 3 North Hollywood teens were hospitalized for abusing air freshener.

Madison county middle schools have recognized the “Silent Epidemic” as an ongoing issue among today’s youths. LAUSD Impact Advisor, Antonio Roque, notes the importance of communication among parents and children can help minimize the number of occurrences each year.

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14 Middle Schoolers Caught Huffing in Kansas

From KSN-TV in Wichita, Kansas

14 students were caught “huffing computer keyboard cleaner in the boys and girls bathroom and on the school bus last month.”

The article also reports that “one student passed out and another was examined by a school nurse.”

Two of the students are 14-years old and will face charges of abuse of toxic vapors. The other 12 students are younger than 14-years old so “instead of being charged, they will attend meetings to educate them on the effects of huffing.”

Six Students Caught Huffing in Utah

From Logan Herald Journal in Utah:

In December, police responded to Mount Logan Middle School after someone reported that a student had been huffing computer dusters. After being caught, six students were “charged Tuesday with psychotoxic chemical abuse.”

Fourteen Middle School Students Caught Huffing At School

From KAKE 10 in Kansas:

Last week, school resource officers called Garden City police to a middle school after a huffing incident involving 14 students.

“The students had been huffing in the bathroom, as well as on a school bus. One student was examined by a school nurse after displaying symptoms of huffing, and officers learned another student passed out on the school bus after huffing.”

The article also notes that in November 2007, the same police department “investigated the death of a 19-year-old male, whose death was related to inhaling computer keyboard cleaner.”

Inhalant Use Increase in Florida

From MSNBC/WBBH-TV in Ft Myers Florida:

The article points out that “the use of inhalants among Collier County middle school students has nearly doubled in recent years from 12% up to 21%.”

Middle School Inhalant Use Twice State Average

From the Worcester Telegram in Massachusetts:

The 2008 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (5th - 8th graders) revealed that “more than twice as many Oxford Middle School students have used inhalants than the state average.”

10.4% of the middle schoolers had used inhalants.

Survey in Erie Shows Inhalant Use Up

The Civic Institute and Erie County Health Department in Pennsylvania just released the results of a county-wide survey of middle and high schoolers yesterday.

The creators of the study were concerned about accurate results, so Amy Eisert, the director of the Civic Institute, came up with a solution: "We included trick questions in the survey. One of them was that we listed a make-believe drug and asked students if they ever used it. If they said yes, we tossed out their survey."

Some highlights:

• The number of students who gambled in the last year was down, from 35% two years ago to 29%.
• Students who smoked in the last thirty days declined from 12.4% to 11.5%.
• Binge drinking and marijuana usage also decreased.

However, inhalant usage increased 1%.

The superintendent of Erie Schools, Jim Barker, was not surprised.

He says that the survey "mirrors what's happening in the state and across the nation," and that the report presented "clear reasons why schools, community agencies and parents have to work together" to prevent students from using drugs or alcohol.

Charlotte Berringer, the director of community health for the county Health Department, believes that "reports like this are invaluable because agencies who apply for funding need to show good, hard data. This report will help us put in evidence-based programming to deal with some of these issues."

Hopefully inhalant abuse will be addressed and more education provided in Erie County schools.

From GoErie.com.

Inhalants Included in Police Talk

Kids at a school in Orillia, Canada were taught about inhalants during an anti-drug and gang demonstration last week.

After learning about gang violence, 7th and 8th graders watched a video that began by talking about marijuana and tobacco, but led into stimulants, pills, performance-enhancing drugs, and inhalants.

An 8th grader, Angelique Garner, expressed surprise over some of the information she learned. "It's pretty crazy to know you can die from your first take of (an inhalant). I can't imagine getting involved with that."

The students also watched videos that featured the friends and family members of drug users who had died as a result of their addictions, as well as former users themselves.

The program will be moving on to a different high school next week. Police expect 450 students to attend.