Local teen girls have been caught 'dusting'
From staff and wire reports | Posted: Friday, March 16, 2007 12:00 am
National news Thursday that more girls than boys are huffing inhalants was interesting but not surprising to Wayne Beatty, safe schools program administrator for the Natrona County School District.
In the last six months, he's worked with three students, all girls, who were caught using inhalants and sentenced to counseling through the court system's diversion program for youth who are cited for a first-time offense of a minor crime.
Two of the girls were caught shoplifting canned air and huffing it in the back of a store, and the other was caught during a traffic stop, Beatty said.
While using inhalants isn't the community's biggest problem with teen substance abuse - by far it's alcohol, Beatty said - the practice exists and it's dangerous to teens' health and scary to their parents.
Teens experiment with inhalants because they want to test urban myths about the substances, he said.
They're seeking thrills and a cheap and accessible high. But health risks from inhalant abuse include brain damage, organ failure, convulsions, deafness, impaired vision and loss of motor skills and judgment. Even first-time use can lead to death.
One common type of inhalant is canned air from products like Dust-Off, use to clean computer keyboards and other electronics.
It's called "dusting" and dangerous because difluoroethane in the canned air is a nervous system depressant. Also, the gas expands rapidly once expelled and turns very cold. Cans warn of frostbite, and Beatty said the extremely cold air can constrict and freeze lung tissue.
New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that in 2005, more than 600,000 youth started using inhalants, including 337,000 females and 268,000 males.
"Among new inhalant initiates, girls start huffing at a much earlier age than boys. This means that parents, health professionals and educators must start talking with preteen girls about the dangers of inhalants before it is too late," said Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Coalition.
Among the trends noted by the report is that use of nitrous oxides (propellants for products like whipped cream) among new users has declined since 2002, particularly among males, while use of other aerosol sprays other than spray paint has more than doubled for boys and girls.
"Young people who turn to inhalants may be completely unaware of the serious health risks," said Timothy Condon, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Advice to parents
"We are urging parents to talk to their children about inhalants and take notice when suddenly their children have bad breath, face rashes or stained clothing," said Dr. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
Beatty said parents often don't believe their son or daughter could use drugs like inhalants.
He said most teens he deals with can, on their own, make good decisions, but, "if you get two or three or four, (with) even sometimes the very best-behaved and best-intentioned teenagers the group decision they arrive at is going to be weaker than any one of the individual teenagers would have arrived at on their own."
Teens do listen to their parents but also want to test ideas, he said.
"They also have this idea, 'Hmm, I wonder if these people are telling us the truth or I wonder if they're telling us things to frighten us?'"
It's OK for parents to admit to their teens that they don't know much about inhalants, and to ask what the teens know, Beatty said.
"The more honest you can be and the more conversational you can be, the better off," he said. Parents should express fear for the child hurting herself without getting angry, he said.
Star-Tribune staff writer Barbara Nordby contributed to this report. Reach her at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.