From the KATU News in Portland, Oregon
A 19 year old female plead guilty to a DUI charge earlier this week following her involvement in a near fatal car wreck in Dalles, Oregon. The teen is accused of driving while ‘high’ causing her to “pass out and wreck on a narrow bridge crossing the Columbia River.” The teen is not being charged with drug or alcohol intoxication, but rather chemical intoxication via computer keyboard cleaner.
When an Oregon State Police trooper arrived to the scene of the accident he found the young driver passed out and unresponsive.
Dramatically escaping any serious injuries, the teen was able to undergo basic field sobriety tests and urine analyses.
“Sobering up right before the trooper’s eyes” the teen passed both evaluations with little difficulty, as Police found no chemical traces of computer duster to be present in her body. However, when Police “spotted two cans of keyboard cleaner in the back seat, the teen then confessed to taking ‘hits’ of the cleaner while driving.”
Commonly referred to as ‘huffing,’ an Oregon Poison Control Toxicologist “claims that 1 on 20 junior high kids have admitted to having tried huffing chemicals of some sort to get high.”
Although the 19 year old sustained no serious injuries from the accident, her experience undoubtedly elicits a ‘reality check’ among parents and teachers who are unfamiliar and uninformed of the risks and harmful effects surrounding inhalant abuse; demonstrating the destructive consequences of ‘huffing’ to youth across the nation.
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