{"id":2854,"date":"2021-05-12T14:56:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T04:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/inhalants-not-just-a-kid-issue\/"},"modified":"2021-05-12T14:56:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T04:56:25","slug":"inhalants-not-just-a-kid-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/inhalants-not-just-a-kid-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Inhalants \u2013 Not just a \u2018kid issue\u2019! \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent article in Queensland\u2019s Courier Mail, It literally melts kids\u2019 brains<\/a> the issue of \u2018chroming\u2019 or inhalant use has been put back on the public radar. Whilst this issue has never disappeared, it does come to public attention when harms grow.<\/p>\n

Hospitalisations for teenagers suffering from chroming sickness have increased for the fifth straight year as a teacher\u2019s call to ban an aerosol deodorant linked to the devastating habit goes unheard.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hospitalisations have increased by 40 per cent among people under 19 and are up 11 per cent overall from the 2018\/19 to 2019\/20.<\/em><\/p>\n

There were 115 people put in Queensland hospitals 157 times due to chroming, 63 of them were 19 years and under.<\/em><\/p>\n

Queensland Children\u2019s Hospital Emergency Physician Dr Daniel Bodnar has seen the increase first-hand with children as young as 12 hospitalised for chroming related illness.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really worries me is the long-term effects, these solvents are like paint strippers, and much like a paint stripper melts the paint off a paint brush, that\u2019s what it does to people\u2019s brains,\u201d Dr Bodnar said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt literally melts the special lining of the nerve cells in the brain which leads to major problems down the track like they can\u2019t think properly and their IQ goes down,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe brain is very slow to heal and the idea is the more exposed to it the more likely long term damage will be done,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just horrible, you can actually see evidence of it on scans.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Inhalant issues can come and go, depending on several influencing factors and their potential influence on use. For example, the 2007 \u2018Graffiti Prevention Act\u2019 (Victoria that came into effect in 2008) saw the restrictions on sales of spray paint to minors. The term \u2018Chroming\u2019 was synonymous with inhalant activity with spray paint products being the primary, but not sole source of inhalant activity.<\/p>\n

Dalgarno Institute staff have had firsthand experience with young people who used inhalants extensively prior to this injunction, and the fatal capacity of inhalant use, with one young 16 y.o client dying on a train station platform after a single inhalant episode.<\/p>\n

Other factors can contribute to decline in use, such as easier access to other illicit drugs or cheaper and easily accessible alcohol. If other substances are either more readily available, cheaper, or easier to access, this can divert from inhalant use. <\/p>\n

Of course, determinants of engagement with inhalant or another our mood\/mind altering substance remain many and varied.<\/p>\n

Whilst trauma, neglect and abuse can be key social determinants of use, so are other factors such as tacit permission modes for substance engagement that pro-drug advocates are promulgating via \u2018inevitability\u2019 and even \u2018right\u2019 messaging on substance use. Also underlying much of the substance engagement issue remains, meaninglessness, purposelessness and the boredom and hedonic activities these can precipitate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Grown Ups\u2019 and Inhalants.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inhalant use is not the purview of the hapless teen alone. There are more \u2018sophisticated versions\u2019 of inhalant use in the marketplace parading as psycho-social and psycho-sexual enhancement vehicles. One common genre is \u2018Poppers<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

This chemical amyl nitrite has been prescribed by doctors in the past to people with heart conditions. Whilst currently it is used to treat cyanide poisoning.<\/p>\n

Yet, this inhalant may also be \u2018embellished\u2019 with various chemicals and can be cryptically marketed as a \u2018room deodorizers\u2019 or \u2018leather cleaners\u2019. However, in certain jurisdictions, it can be sold as a \u2018party supplement\u2019 such as Jungle Juice Platinum or Double Scorpio Honey.<\/p>\n

In the summary of a 2020 Medical News Today Article, the risks of harms from this substance are very concerning;<\/p>\n

Poppers can cause serious side effects, and some reactions can be fatal. Considering the possible adverse effects, the best option is not to use poppers. The risks outweigh the short-lived high of the drug.<\/em><\/p>\n

Personal stories of short and long-term harms of this inhalant are real, growing, and disturbing.<\/p>\n

One website dedicated to warning against this inhalant use is The Truth About Poppers<\/a> and is aimed at not only creating awareness but providing a forum for those who have experienced the harms of this dangerous practice and want to warn their friends and loved ones of the harms of this substance.<\/p>\n

For further information on inhalant use and its harms to children and families<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent article in Queensland\u2019s Courier Mail, It literally melts kids\u2019 brains the issue of \u2018chroming\u2019 or inhalant use has been put back on the public radar. Whilst this issue has never disappeared, it does come to public attention when harms grow. Hospitalisations for teenagers suffering from chroming sickness have increased for the fifth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-isabella-list-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}