Inhalant Use Can Signal Later Substance Abuse

On the issue of adolescents and drug abuse, there has been some good news of late. Specifically, the annual Monitoring the Future Study has found an overall decline in drug use by the nation's eighth graders for eight straight years (Psychiatric News, February 4).

But the picture isn't as rosy regarding adolescent inhalant use. In 2002, 8 percent of eighth graders used inhalants; in 2003, 9 percent did; and in 2004, 10 percent did.

The health dangers are not only immediate toxicity to the brain and body, according to information released at a press conference sponsored by the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition last month in Washington, D.C. Results from both the 2002 and 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed a link between adolescent inhalant use and substance abuse later in life.

The surveys, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found that 35 percent of persons aged 18 to 49 who initiated inhalant use at age 13 or younger were classified with dependence on, or abuse of, alcohol or an illicit drug in the preceding year. This contrasts with 10 percent of persons aged 18 to 49 who never used inhalants.

“Early use of inhalants sets the very young up for major problems in later life,” Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition, concluded at the press conference.

More information about the National Survey on Drug Use and Health is posted online at<www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/inhale/inhale.cfm>.▪