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MAWSAC
Joins with DMHAS To Start CT
Statewide Task Force on Inhalants
In recent years, inhaling house hold products
or “huffing” has
become prevalent among young
people. Children,
some as young as 5th graders, have begun to
inhale anything they can find in the hope of getting
“high” from its fumes.
Some of the products used by these children have
been lighter fluid, hair spray, white out, deodorant, air
freshener, and gasoline, and the list goes on and on.
In recent years, this has led to brain damage in
some children and even death.
In fact, 36% of youth who die from inhalant use die on the first time they
use an inhalant.
The problem is that these products
that are commonly found in households and schools and can
easily be purchased contain poisonous chemicals that are
harmful or even fatal when inhaled.
Youth, parents and other adults are just unaware of
this fact. In
addition, these products are readily available to them.
In response to this problem, the
Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction
Services, in conjunction with the
Meriden
and Wallingford Substance Abuse Council, recently
established the CT Inhalant Task Force.
Their goal is twofold:
to increase the awareness of inhalant abuse and to
prevent inhalant abuse.
This task force is comprised of police officers,
members of Connecticut Safe Kids, Connecticut Poison
Control, Department
of Health and Human Services,
Governor's Prevention Partnership, and various
health and youth serving organizations who work toward the
welfare and safety of children.
Some of the warning signs are:
a change in friends or interests, decline in school
performance, disoriented/dazed appearance, slurred speech,
chemical odors on cloths/breath/backpack, red spots or
sores around nose and/or mouth,
headaches more than usual,
finding empty lighters
or spray cans or household
cleaner containers, and finding
of rags or plastic bags with chemical odors on
them.
For more information on the CT Task
Force on Inhalants, contact
MAWSAC at mawsac@aol.com.
If you think your child may be experimenting with
inhalants, please consider these resources:
Infoline at 211 or on the web at
www.inhalant.org.
In a poison emergency, call 1-800-222-1222 or 911
in CT. |
