14 Year Old Dies After Huffing Butane

Via the Times of Malta:


Police suspect inhaling lighter fluid led to the death of a 14 year old girl last Friday. The girl “fainted and died of cardiac arrest” but toxicology tests will confirm whether her death was “triggered by inhaling butane gas emitted by the lighter refill can.”

Reports state that the girl and her friend were huffing the inhalant on the roof when she fainted. Her friend started shouting and the girl’s mother responded and called an ambulance. The girl died shortly afterwards.

The article references the The 2011 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) which revealed that 14% of Fifth Form students used inhalants to get high, a sharp increase from the 9% recorded in 2007.

A memorial page has been set up on Facebook and can be accessed here:

Island Teenagers to Take Part in Drug Survey

via: Isle of Man, EU

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) will soon launch its 2011 questionnaire.

ESPAD's 2007 survey showed:
- 17 % of those surveyed used inhalants, which is also about twice the ESPAD average.

- 93% of those surveyed had consumed alcohol within the last 12 months, and 61 percent had been drunk during the same period.

- 24% of those questioned who had smoked cigarettes in the 30 days before the survey,, which was slightly below average.

-34% of the students said they had used cannabis during their lifetime and the proportion reporting use of drugs other than cannabis - 16 per cent - was more than twice the mean.

- 12% used pills in combination with alcohol.

Inhalant Use in Ireland

From Irish Medical Times in Dublin:

The results of the 2007 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs [ESPAD] are set to be released on March 26th. The report includes data from 35 countries.

The previous report revealed that “the use of inhalants in Ireland was about twice the average (18 per cent compared to 10 per cent).”