For Adolescents, Inhalants Are Drug of Choice

For 16- and 17-year-olds who used drugs, 12.4 percent use inhalants and 35.2 percent used painkillers, while 81.4 percent used marijuana and 34.2 percent used other illegal drugs, according to the report.

Forty-five percent of teens who used inhalants suffer from psychiatric disorders, compared with 29 percent of teens who used other drugs.

Although only 8 percent of people treated for drug abuse in 2006 were 12 to 17 years old, they represented 48 percent of hospital treatment for inhalant use alone or in combination with other drugs.

Adolescent girls seem particularly vulnerable to inhalant abuse. According to the report, 41 percent of hospital admissions for inhalant abuse involved teenage girls, whereas only 30 percent of hospital admissions for non-inhalant drug abuse involved teen girls.

Among 17-year-olds, 59.3 percent of new inhalant users move on to nitrous oxide (laughing gas), also called whippets.

"One teen we talked with abused nitrous oxide to the point where she had metabolic dysfunction, vitamin B12 deficiency, loss of coordination and loss of concentration, and had to be hospitalized," Clark said.

The most important thing for parents to do is to be aware that preteens and young teens are at risk for using inhalants, just as older teens are, and they should be discussing these issues with their children, Clark said.

"Parents should be able to clearly explain that inhalants are not drugs of abuse, but deadly poisons that while they may produce an effect also produce unintended consequences," Clark said.

More information

For more on inhalants, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

SOURCES: H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., director, U.S. Center for Substance Abuse, Rockville, Md.