What are Inhalants?

Inhalants are breathable chemical vapors that produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects. A variety of products common in the home and in the workplace contain substances that can be inhaled. Many people do not think of these products, such as spray paints, glues, and cleaning fluids, as drugs because they were never meant to be used to achieve an intoxicating effect.

Inhalants - particularly volatile solvents, gases, and aerosols - are often among the first drugs that young children use. One national survey indicates that about 3.0% of U.S. children have tried inhalants by the time they reach fourth grade. Inhalant abuse can become chronic and extend into adulthood.

Generally, inhalant abusers will abuse any available substance. However, effects produced by individual inhalants vary, and some individuals will go out of their way to obtain their favorite inhalant. For example, in certain parts of the country, "Texas shoe-shine," a shoe-shining spray containing the chemical toluene, is a local favorite. Silver and gold spray paints, which contain more toluene than other spray colors, also are popular inhalants.

Find an Inhalant Treatment Center now »

Inhalants fall into the following categories:

Volatile Solvents

Industrial or household solvents or solvent-containing products, including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and glue
Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip-marker fluid, and electronic contact cleaners

Aerosols

Household aerosol propellants and associated solvents in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays

Gases

Gases used in household or commercial products,including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipping cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases
Medical anesthetic gases, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide ("laughing gas")

Nitrites

Organic nitrites are volatiles that include cyclohexyl, butyl, and amyl nitrites, commonly known as "poppers." Amyl nitrite is still used in certain diagnostic medical procedures. Volatile nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as "video head cleaner," "room odorizer," "leather cleaner," or "liquid aroma."

What are The Patterns of Inhalant Abuse?

Initial use of inhalants often starts early. Some young people may use inhalants as an easily accessible substitute for alcohol. Research suggests that chronic or long-term inhalant abusers are among the most difficult drug abuse patients to treat. Many suffer from cognitive impairment and other neurological dysfunction and may experience multiple psychological and social problems.

According to the 2005 Monitoring the Future survey, lifetime use of inhalants measured 17.1% among 8th-graders, 13.1% among 10th grade students, and 11.4% among 12th-graders in 2005.

MTF's lifetime prevalence figures indicate that the percentages of students who have tried inhalants continue to decrease steadily for 10th- and 12th-graders. In 2004, 12.4% of 10th-graders and 11.9% of 12th-graders said they have abused inhalants at least once in their lives. Although lifetime prevalence peaked for 8th-graders in 1995 (21.6%), rates of inhalant use among this group are still high. In fact, 8th-graders reported a significant increase in lifetime use from 15.8% in 2003 to 17.3% in 2004. For 10th-graders, the peak was 19.3% in 1996. For seniors, rates were highest in 1994 at 17.7%.

These data raise a question: How can fewer 12th-graders than 8th-graders consistently report they have ever abused inhalants? Possibly, many 12th-graders fail to recall their much earlier use of inhalants or, more troubling, many 8th-grade inhalant abusers may have dropped out of school by the 12th grade and are no longer included in the survey population. Data from national and State surveys suggest inhalant abuse reaches its peak at some point during the seventh through ninth grades.
Gender differences in inhalant abuse have been identified at different points in childhood. The 2004 MTF indicates that 10.5% of 8th grade females reported using inhalants in the past year, compared with 8.8% of 8th grade males. Among 12th- graders, 3.4% of females and 4.8% of males reported using inhalants in the past year.

People who abuse inhalants are found in both urban and rural settings. Research on factors contributing to inhalant abuse suggests that adverse socioeconomic conditions, a history of childhood abuse, poor grades, and dropping out of school all are associated with inhalant abuse.

2004/2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

Among youths age 12 to 17, 10.6% were current illicit drug users in 2004, and 1.2% of those reported current inhalant use. Among 12 or 13-year-olds, 1.2% reported current inhalant use; 1.6% of 14 or 15-year-olds reported current use. Lifetime use of inhalants was down in 2004 among Americans in the 18-20 age group. While declines were reported also for lifetime use among Asians age 18-25, their past-month use of inhalants rose significantly. Past-year use rose significantly among 21 year-olds in 2004. The number of new inhalant users increased from 627,000 new users in 1994 to 1 million in 2002. Inhalant initiates were predominantly under age 18 (78 percent in 2002).

In 2004, the number of new inhalant users was about 857,000.

The 2003 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Interim Report estimates 627,923 drug-related emergency department visits for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2003. Inhalants were attributed to 1,681 of these reported visits.

How Are Inhalants Used?

Inhalants can be breathed in through the nose or the mouth in a variety of ways, such as:

"Sniffing" or "snorting" fumes from containers;
Spraying aerosols directly into the nose or mouth;
"Bagging"-sniffing or inhaling fumes from substances sprayed or deposited inside a plastic or paper bag;
"Huffing" from an inhalant-soaked rag stuffed in the mouth; and
Inhaling from balloons filled with nitrous oxide.

Inhaled chemicals are rapidly absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream and quickly distributed to the brain and other organs. Within seconds of inhalation, the user experiences intoxication along with other effects similar to those produced by alcohol. Alcohol-like effects may include slurred speech, an inability to coordinate movements, euphoria, and dizziness. In addition, users may experience lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions.

Ways to Recognize Inhalant Abuse

Because intoxication lasts only a few minutes, abusers frequently seek to prolong the high by continuing to inhale repeatedly over the course of several hours, a very dangerous practice. With successive inhalations, abusers can suffer loss of consciousness and death. At the least, they will feel less inhibited and less in control. After heavy use of inhalants, abusers may feel drowsy for several hours and experience a lingering headache.

A strong need to continue using inhalants has been reported among many individuals, particularly those who abuse inhalants for prolonged periods over many days. Compulsive use and a mild withdrawal syndrome can occur with long-term inhalant abuse. Additional symptoms exhibited by long-term inhalant abusers include weight loss, muscle weakness, disorientation, inattentiveness, lack of coordination, irritability, and depression.

Health Hazards

Although they differ in makeup, nearly all abused inhalants produce short-term effects similar to anesthetics, which act to slow down the body's functions. When inhaled in sufficient concentrations, inhalants can cause intoxication, usually lasting only a few minutes.

However, sometimes users extend this effect for several hours by breathing in inhalants repeatedly. Initially, users may feel slightly stimulated. Repeated inhalations make them feel less inhibited and less in control. If use continues, users can lose consciousness.

Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death within minutes of a session of repeated inhalations. This syndrome, known as "sudden sniffing death," can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise healthy young person. Sudden sniffing death is particularly associated with the abuse of butane, propane, and chemicals in aerosols.

High concentrations of inhalants also can cause death from suffocation by displacing oxygen in the lungs and then in the central nervous system so that breathing ceases. Deliberately inhaling from a paper or plastic bag or in a closed area greatly increases the chances of suffocation. Even when using aerosols or volatile products for their legitimate purposes (i.e., painting, cleaning), it is wise to do so in a well-ventilated room or outdoors.

Chronic abuse of solvents can cause severe, long-term damage to the brain, the liver, and the kidneys.

Harmful irreversible effects that may be caused by abuse of specific solvents include:

Hearing loss - toluene (spray paints, glues, dewaxers) and trichloroethylene (dry-cleaning chemicals, correction fluids)
Peripheral neuropathies, or limb spasms - hexane (glues, gasoline) and nitrous oxide (whipped cream dispensers, gas cylinders)
Central nervous system or brain damage - toluene (spray paints, glues, dewaxers)
Bone marrow damage—benzene (gasoline)

Serious but potentially reversible effects include:

Liver and kidney damage—toluene-containing substances and chlorinated hydrocarbons (correction fluids, dry-cleaning fluids)
Blood oxygen depletion—aliphatic nitrites (known on the street as poppers, bold, and rush) and methylene chloride (varnish removers, paint thinners)

Inhalant abuse also can cause death by:

Asphyxiation - from repeated inhalations, which lead to high concentrations of inhaled fumes displacing the available oxygen in the lungs;
Suffocation - from blocking air from entering the lungs when inhaling fumes from a plastic bag placed over the head;
Convulsions or seizures - caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain;
Coma - the brain shuts down all but the most vital functions;
Choking - from inhalation of vomit after inhalant use; or
Fatal injury - from accidents, including motor vehicle fatalities, suffered while intoxicated.

Abuse of inhalants during pregnancy also may place infants and children at increased risk of developmental harm. Animal studies designed to simulate human patterns of inhalant abuse suggest that prenatal exposure to toluene or trichlorethylene (TCE) can result in reduced birth weights, occasional skeletal abnormalities, and delayed neurobehavioral development. A number of case reports note abnormalities in newborns of mothers who chronically abuse solvents, and there is evidence of subsequent developmental impairment in some of these children. However, no well- controlled, prospective study of the effects of prenatal exposure to inhalants in humans has been conducted, and it is not possible to link prenatal exposure to a specific chemical to a specific birth defect or developmental problem.

What Are The Special Risks For Nitrite Abusers?

Nitrites are abused mainly by older adolescents and adults. Typically, individuals who abuse nitrites are seeking to enhance sexual function and pleasure. Research shows that abuse of these drugs in this context is associated with unsafe sexual practices that greatly increase the risk of contracting and spreading such infectious diseases as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Animal research raises the possibility that there may be a link between abuse of nitrite inhalants and the development and progression of infectious diseases and tumors. The research indicates that inhaling nitrites depletes many cells in the immune system and impairs immune system mechanisms that fight infectious diseases. A recent study found that even a relatively small number of exposures to butyl nitrite can produce dramatic increases in tumor incidence and growth rates in animals.

Do you think you, or someone near you, may be abusing inhalants? If yes, call 866-323-5612... call free to be free of drugs that harm you.

Find an Inhalant Treatment Center now »

top of Inhalant info