Health Blurbs

If you’re a parent, you may fear that your kids will use drugs, such as marijuana or LSD. But you may not realize the dangers of substances in your own home. Household products such as glues, hair sprays, paints and lighter fluid can be sniffing drugs for kids in search of a quick high.

Many young people inhale vapors from these to get high, not realizing the serious health consequences. Here is a partial list of stuff you want keep out of your children’s hands when you’re not around:

• Volatile Solvents ~ paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, glue, correction fluids, felt-tip-marker fluid, and electronic contact cleaners.
• Aerosols ~ spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays.
• Gases ~ butane lighters and propane tanks, whipping cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases; ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide (”laughing gas”.)
• Nitrites ~ video head cleaner, room deodorizer, leather cleaner, and liquid aroma.

Any of these can cause death. Regular abuse can result in serious harm to your overall health, as well as your:

• liver
• brain
• heart
• kidneys

Parents and kids both need to know that sniffing any of these commonly used household products is very dangerous. Even one session of inhalant abuse can disrupt heart rhythms and lower oxygen levels.

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