Inhalants

Inhalants are substances or fumes from products such as glue or paint thinner that are sniffed or "huffed" to cause an immediate high. Because they affect your brain with much greater speed and force than many other substances, they can cause irreversible physical and mental damage before you know what's happened.

People who use inhalants can lose their sense of smell; experience nausea and nosebleeds; and develop liver, lung, and kidney problems. Chronic use can lead to muscle wasting and reduced muscle tone and strength. Inhalants can cause sudden death.

Street names/slang terms:
Nitrous oxide, whippets, laughing gas, carb, gas

Drug Type:
Inhalants aren't drugs in the regular sense of the word. They are in the form of household products that are inhaled or sniffed by children to get high. There are hundreds of household products on the market today that can be misused as inhalants.

What does it look like?
Examples of products kids abuse to get high include model airplane glue, nail polish remover, cleaning fluids, hair spray, gasoline, the propellant in aerosol whipped cream, spray paint, fabric protector, air conditioner fluid (freon), cooking spray and correction fluid.

How is it used?
These products are sniffed, snorted, bagged (fumes inhaled from a plastic bag), or "huffed" (inhalant-soaked rag, sock, or roll of toilet paper in the mouth) to achieve a high. Inhalants are also sniffed directly from the container.

Short-term Effects:
• intoxication
• loss of consciousness
• headache
• muscle weakness, fatigue, lack of coordination
• abdominal pain, nausea
• severe mood swings, violent behavior
• decrease or loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds
• numbness, tingling of the hands and feet
• hearing loss
• limb spasms

Long-term Effects:
• hearing loss
• limb spasms
• decrease in heart, respiratory rates
• hepatitis or peripheral neuropathy
• central nervous system or brain damage
• blood oxygen depletion
• heart failure
• death

Source: Partnership for a Drug-Free America, NIDA