Pennsylvania Mom Found Huffing in Car

Via Lehigh Valley Live in Pennsylvania:

A 30 year old woman was recently sentenced to a year probation in an inhalant abuse incident that occurred last April.

On April 20, Pennsylvania State Police were called to a shopping center for a report of a woman huffing chemicals in her car and passing out. When they responded they found her passed out in the driver’s seat with a bottle of spray cleaner in her left hand.  They knocked on the window, waking her up and when she got out of the car they noticed another can of aerosol cleaner and two cans of cleaning dust spray in the car. They asked her why she was huffing the product and she started crying and said she was “going through a rough time in her life.”

Pennsylvania Mom Abuses Inhalants & Endangers Child

Via Explore Venango in Pennsylvania:


Last month in Evergreen Arbors police responded to a report of a woman huffing computer dusting spray in front of her child. After an investigation, she was charged with “endangering the welfare of a child.”

Boys Run to Get Help for Huffing Mom

From Ocala.com in Florida:

A 31-year old pregnant woman who had been “arrested three times since April on charges of “huffing” harmful chemicals was arrested Friday, accused of the same activity.”

Two of her sons ran to a neighbor in search of help for their mom. When the neighbor escorted the two young boys back to their house, their mom was locked in a bedroom. They removed the doorknob and saw her lying on a bed.

Medical personnel arrived and kicked in the door. The woman was on the bed with an aerosol can nearby. She was able to get up and head to a bathroom where she immediately started inhaling from the can. The boys told deputies that their mother had inhaled from the same can earlier and she admitted it.

Mom Changes Building Code To Prevent Inhalant Abuse

From WBBH in Fort Myers, Florida
Mona Casey lost her 15 year old son Charles to inhalant abuse two years ago. Since his death, his mother has been “working to make sure the same doesn't happen” to other children.

“An AC unit could be your child's ticket to getting high. The valve comes right off and inside, you can find the cooling agent, refrigerant, which some people have also used as an inhalant.” Mrs. Casey notes, "There is very easy access to something that was very dangerous that should have been out of reach to children a long time ago."

Mrs. Casey began working to change this and this week, the “International Code Council, which governs all the states' building codes, approved Casey's request to tighten the rules on AC units.”

“Starting in 2010 in Florida, all new AC units will have to come with a special valve that can only be taken off with a special tool. The move will make it nearly impossible for kids to get into an air conditioning unit.”

The article quotes the county building manager as saying, “"It's a major accomplishment, major," "I'm shocked, very surprised, and very happy she was able to do it," and that he has “never heard of an average citizen able to change the nation's building code.”

Mona Casey also remarks, "These are children that don't even understand what this stuff does to your body and I just want to give them a chance.”