From The Talk Radio News Service:
The article recaps yesterday’s news conference that kicked off the 17th annual National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week.
It starts by quoting NIPC Executive Director Harvey Weiss “Why is this important? There are a couple facts to keep in mind: Inhalants are the first drug a young person will experiment with, even before alcohol, marijuana, and meth. And that’s why it’s considered a gateway drug. Inhalants are more addictive than cocaine or amphetamines”
He also points out that “statistics show that 17.2% of youth ages 12-17 first experiment with drugs by sniffing household products.”
Dr. Tim Condon, Deputy Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, then “shared the results of this year’s “Monitoring the Future” survey. The statistics showed, “9% of 8th graders have used inhalants in the past year. That’s phenomenal, and of course our 8th graders, the youngest… are those who are using the most.”
Dr Condon also noted, “Disturbing news: The first data point was that there was a decrease of perceived risk of inhalants regularly between 8th graders from 2007 to 2008… Not only that but the disapproval rate among young people actually decreased as well.” Decrease in perceived risk and simultaneous decrease of disapproval is usually indicative of a future increase in the use of the drug. “
The article then highlights the work of Dana Prothro, a mother who lost her 19 year-old daughter to inhalants. In 2007, her daughter tried to get high using household air-conditioner fluid, and the event was tragically fatal. Prothro has successfully lobbied to change air-conditioner model codes; the guidelines now call for locking caps on outside refridgerant access points. “We now need the states to incorporate these 2009 model codes into their building codes. This is a crucial fight to prevent deaths and injury due to refridgerant huffing,” she explained.
1 comment:
Thank You so much for posting information about myself and the loss of my precious daughter Erica Rain Prothro. My one goal in life now is to do all I can possible to stop any further loss of life from the nature of this deadly toxic chemical they now have labeled the:"ONE BREATH DEATH" that is all that it took for my daughter who died from the first time she ever huffed.
Please help in any way possible to stop this killing epidemic killing our young and innocent.
You can read more about my daughter by going to uproarorg.org or just google her name. Erica Rain Prothro-- Her news paper articles have been labled "Learning the hard way" This will be the title of my upcoming book which can give insights as to what it is that can lead a teen to doing such things....
Thank you
Dana Prothro
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