The Effects of Huffing (Video)

Recently, we discovered a spirited, entrepreneurial effort while trolling YouTube. The proactive student project employs accurate statistics and a good dose of humor to create a skit that shows how easily some children can acquire inhalants. Nearly 4,000 people already viewed the viewed!

Let us know what you think:

Mom Speaks Out About the Loss of Her Son

From WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan:

Beverly Helms talks about the loss of her son Michael Meek to inhalant abuse. Michael died with a “can of computer duster under his hand.”

She is now speaking out to help protect other families. "Just to say this is what happened my little boy," she said. "A 9- or 10-year-old looks at that and thinks, 'It's not going to hurt me,' and they become another statistic."

In honor of her son, an avid skateboard fan, a benefit concert will be held on Saturday at 4 pm at the Ionia Skate Park. The money raised will be used “to buy some new equipment at the park as a memorial” to her son.

For a personal account of that day from Michael’s mom, click here:

Please click here to view the video which accompanies this news story.

Internet Trends Worrisome in Nebraska

Community leaders in Grand Island, Nebraska are warning parents about the susceptability of children to trends on the internet, specifically YouTube videos advocating mixing prescription drugs and using inhalants.

A drug expert from Omaha, Chuck Matson, agrees that YouTube encourages kids to try inhalants and that "especially in our middle school age category, we're seeing an increase in use and abuse of inhalants."

One of the students from Barr Middle School, Mckenzie Fyfe, described the inhalant use that she encounters in her classmates:

"They inhale paint in art class, and inhale sharpie markers. They do it in school and after school, when the teacher's not looking. Sometimes they do it in the hallway or the bathrooms. It's just not things we should be doing at twelve-years-old."

Grand Island School District received a grant to form a Middle School Youth Congress formed of eighty-five students. The students are on a retreat today learning about drug trends, avoiding pressure, leadership qualities, and making good decisions.

Story from Nebraska.tv.

Duster Death in South Florida

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a story today about Jason Emanuel, who died in February after inhaling computer duster.

He was originally from North Carolina and was arrested twice in December in Boynton Beach, Florida for huffing in his car outside of Wal-Mart. Soon after, he was arrested for huffing outside of a SuperTarget. The police reported him as being "unsteady on his feet" and "incoherent".

Jason had been kicked out of a drug rehabilitation halfway house a few days before his death on February 26th. He lived out of his car for three days until the police were called to a Wal-Mart where Jason told the officers that he had been huffing.

On the way to the hospital, he had a seizure and stopped breathing.

He was from an upper middle-class background and was educated in private schools. He studied at Appalachian State University before dropping out to seek treatment for his drug problems.

His father Chris said, "Jason was not a criminal. He wasn't a guy that would stick up the 7-Eleven. He had a problem and eventually it defeated him."

Chris also mentioned how Jason progressed from using marijuana to using inhalants, explaining,

"He got off marijuana because he didn't like finding dealers. You can go to any place and find an inhalant."

Jason's longtime friend Elliot mentioned,

"He just didn't act like someone who was a drug addict. With my generation, people get so concerned with drugs you hear about in pop culture. That's really not the problem. It's the prescription drugs and the stuff you buy at Wal-Mart."

ACE's executive director Colleen Creighton was quoted in the article talking about the prevalence of inhalants.

"You see kids on YouTube joking around, laughing and having fun, and the risk really isn't conveyed. The frightening thing for us is how young the kids are who are using."

Inhalant Abuse Prevention Awareness Institute

This conference, presented by the Virginia Inhalant Abuse Prevention Coalition, was held on March 12th in Staunton, VA. The Coalition consists of a group of concerned prevention professionals and educators who are dedicated to raising awareness of inhalant abuse by providing factual information and resources in an effort to decrease inhalant use across the state.


On the night of the 11th, an inhalant prevention summit was held and included all the leaders in the field. Wayne Frith, the facilitator for the evening, engaged the participants on how to utilize the most effective strategies to spread the message at both the community and the national level.

It went very well and a number of interesting topics were presented, such as:

The Tragedy of Inhalant Abuse - this the first topic, presented by Sgt. Jeff Williams. He spoke about losing his son to inhalant abuse and played several YouTube videos to highlight children's exposure to inhalants as being cool.

Inhalant Abuse Basics - Dr. Robert Balster of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University explained what are inhalants as well as why and how they are abused.

Communities in Action - representatives from three different communities shared their approaches to inhalant abuse.

Teaching Kids About Inhalants - the updated Inhalant Abuse Prevention Manual was used to explain the principles for teaching young people about inhalants.

ACE was glad to be a part of this conference and to have our Inhalant Prevention Kits handed out to all attendees.

We'll be working with the Coalition for the next two years as they reach towards their goal of decreasing inhalant abuse in Virginia by 2009.

Virginia SAFE Presentation

The Midlothian Exchange highlighted the story of Sgt. Jeff Williams in its article "Parents' First Defense Against Inhalants". Sgt. Williams spoke on March 12th at CJW Medical Center to parents, educators, and officials at a presentation from SAFE (Substance Abuse Free Environment). Says Sgt. Williams,

“Parents have to step in and say, ‘no’ … The movies have made it fun. They didn’t tell them they could die,” Williams said after showing a number of posted Web site videos of kids taking repeated “hits” from household products. “It metabolizes within two minutes. After two minutes, you can’t test and find it in the system.”

However, one can find a number of the abused items in the kitchen, the garage and sprinkled in everyone’s household for every day use. There are over 1,400 household products that contain a range of gases such as propane and refrigerant that 9, 10, and 11-year-olds have been known to use to get high. Williams admits that locking up all the items will not alleviate inhalant abuse. “We’re stuck with it and have to educate and teach our children why not to do it,” Williams said. “It’s not compressed air.”

“These chemicals are poisonous when introduced to the human body,” he said. Williams added that parents are the first line of defense for their children when it comes to looking for signs of abuse. “When they have multiple household products without a reason … You know something is up, because they’re not dusting,” he said.

Adolescents will also overuse perfume, cologne, and breath mints to mask the odor of solvent-based inhalants, he added. However, the biggest challenge for parents is when they catch children using household products. “You need to avoid exciting or stressing the person out,” Williams said.

The article also provided a link for parents to take online training about inhalants.

Dusting On the Rise in North Texas

A Fort Worth news story sheds light on a growing problem in North Texas - abusing dust removers, or dusters. It's written for parents who are unaware or uninformed about this trend. Dusters are a popular inhalant because they aren't just compressed air - they contain a chemical that replaces oxygen when huffed, which is what produces the high. The story describes how three teenagers from Sacramento were killed after the driver inhaled dust remover and crashed the car at ninety miles an hour. The story also made note of the increased prevalance of YouTube videos being posted showing teens getting high off of inhalants.

Hollie Higgins of the Dallas Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse commented on the YouTube video being posted online. "Our worry there is, it's going to continue the prevalence of the use," she said, "because it's making it seem normal. [...]

The YouTube videos show teens inhaling the product and commenting on the resulting high.

"One more time, one more time, more, more."
"I can't feel my face."
"Oh yeah, another high, baby."
"It's great, oh my God."

The users might not be saying such things if they knew that dusting could kill them instantly."

It's important for parents to recognize that computer dusters are one of the most abused inhalants and to note any suspicious behavior from their child - cans of dusters in the trash, several canisters on their desk or around their room, especially by the bed, as well as receipts for dusters.