WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... INHALANTS

Inhalants are industrial solvents and aerosol sprays. Sniffed, they can kill you the first time you try them.

What does it do to you mind/body?

Sniffed or "huffed" from bottles, soaked rags, paper/plastic bags, balloons or gas tanks, inhalants produce a quick and short lasting high. Inhalants relax certain types of muscles in your body while increasing the blood flow to your heart and brain. Effects start in 7-10 seconds and last about 30 seconds. Very shortly after the high, inhalants depress the central nervous system.

Inhalants can cause:

• dilated pupils
• glazed, reddened, unfocused eyes
• blisters around the nose
• sore cracked lips
• abundant salivation
• unsteady muscle coordination as though intoxicated
• lightheadedness
• agitation
• abnormal drowsiness
• permanent damage to your brain, lungs, nerves, liver, kidney and bones
• visual and auditory hallucinations
• blackouts (so you don't remember what has happened to you)
• hearing and vision problems
• seizures, vomiting, and skin color changes

Inhalants can also cause you to LOSE:

• your sense of taste, feeling, hearing and smelling
• concentration so you become forgetful
• control of your bowels
• muscle coordination in your arms and legs
• your inhibitions (by drowning out your inner voice)
• self control so you become dangerous to yourself and others
• consciousness and suffocate

Inhalants can KILL YOU!

"Sudden Sniffing Death" can happen without any warning signs. By starving the brain of oxygen or causing the heart to beat too fast, inhalants can lead to a coma or brain damage and death. Are they addictive? Inhalants do not cause a physical dependence, but they can cause a psychological or emotional dependence. Huffers compulsively chase after the short lived high again and again. Withdrawal can be painful, with symptoms including severe headaches, as well as, stomach and leg muscle cramps.

Find out more about inhalants.