Posted on July 27, 2009

With the vast array of substances available on the market that teens can use to achieve the desired “high”, not all are readily accessible due to cost or other obstacles. When teens discovered that they could achieve the same or a similar high from standard household items, labeled inhalants, a new threat emerged.

A March 2009 report by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Trends in Adolescent Inhalant Use: 2002 to 2007 examined the number of teens who used inhalants to get high. With such easy access to dangerous substances – such as glue, shoe polish and aerosol sprays – inhalant use was on the rise in the early 2000s. Now, data from the second half of the decade shows that usage is declining.

Study data shows that the percentage of adolescents – youth aged 12 to 17 – who used inhalants in the past year was lower in 2007 than it was in 2003, 2004 and 2005. For those adolescents who did use inhalants for the first time in the past year, that rate of use of nitrous oxide declined among both males and females. In addition, in 2007, 17.2 percent of adolescents who initiated illicit drug use during the past year reported that inhalants were the first drug they had used.

Nearly 1.0 million adolescents used inhalants in 2007, which represents 3.9 percent of adolescents. The positive news is that this rate was lower than the 2003-2005 rates. Inhalants were used and/or abused by adolescents at a relatively stable rate of 0.4 percent between 2002 and 2007.

For the year 2007, 2.1 percent of adolescents who had not previously used inhalants began to do so during the prior 12 month period. This rate did prove to be lower than the rates for initiation for 2002 through 2005.

While inhalants were the first drug used by 17.2 percent of past year illicit drug users, marijuana was the first drug used by 56.3 percent. For 23.5 percent of past year illicit drug users, nonmedically used prescription-type drugs were the first type of drug used. All rates remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2007.

Of those teens that did use inhalants in the past year, the percentage using the most specific types of inhalants did not differ greatly in 2007 from the percentage in 2002. There did appear to be a few exceptions, including the use of nitrous oxide or “whippits”. The rate of use for this inhalant was lower in 2007 than in 2002. The use of aerosol spray other than spray paint3 was higher in 2007 than in 2002.

While the rates of inhalant use among adolescents seem to be on a downward trend, the rates of dependence or abuse of these substances appears to have remained stable in the study timeframe. These overall findings indicate that ongoing efforts are necessary to increase awareness among adolescents, parents, educators and others as to the dangers of inhalant use