Solvents
Otherwise known as:-
Gas, Glue, Petrol, Aerosols.
How Taken
Sniffed or inhaled.
Effects
Come on fast + wear off quickly.
Some people may feel similar effects to booze, drowsy, happy, unsteady or aggressive.
Some may experience a ‘rush’.
Some may experience hallucinations, nice or nasty.
Nausea + headaches, lethargy + lack of concentration.
Risks
- Solvents kill more young people than any other drug.
- Sniffing puts a strain on the heart, and faliure can result.
- Sniffing from bags can cause suffocation (never put a bag over your head).
- Spraying aerosols direct into your mouth can freeze the throat, causing suffocation.
- Intoxication can lead people to have fatal accidents.
- Vomiting and choking.
- Sniffing alone is dangerous for all the above reasons.
The risks with solvents are high due to the fact that experimentation can be very dangerous and long term use is very harmful to health.
- The majority of young people use once or twice to experiment, then stop.
- Some others go on to use on a recreational basis for a few months and then stop.
These young people need accurate information about the risks they are taking and how to minimise them if they are determined to carry on:-
- Avoid aerosols, butane gas, + plastic bags.
- Never sniff alone or in isolated places.
- Don’t exert yourself after sniffing.
A small number of young people go on to use long term and research indicates that this may be indicative of problems in their lives.