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Location: United Kingdom
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 Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:52 pm Post subject: What are they? |
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Inhalants are chemicals that produce mood-altering vapors. Many people don't usually think of inhalants as drugs because most of them were never meant to be used that way. There are more than a thousand different commercial products that can be abused for their mood-altering properties.
They can be divided into three main categories:
Volatile gases and solvents - such as cigarette lighter gas, cleaning fluids, spray paint, paint thinner, correction fluid, nail polish remover, petrol and glues.
Aerosols - such as hair spray, deodorants and other spray products that are abused more for the propellant gas than for the contents.
Nitrates - such as Amyl nitrite, which has medical applications for heart patients and Butyl nitrite, which is used in room odorizers.
Medicinal uses
Amyl nitrite was widely used in the past as a treatment for angina in heart patients and for diagnostic purposes. It is now rarely prescribed as a medicine as more effective compounds have been developed. Its availability to the public is controlled within the UK.
None of the other commonly abused inhalants, such as those examples listed above, have any medicinal application.
Abuse of inhalants
Young people are particularly likely to abuse inhalants because they are easily available, inexpensive and their abuse carries no criminal penalties. These factors make inhalants, for some young people, one of the first substances to be abused.
Inhalant vapours can be sniffed or sucked in directly from an open container or aerosol, or from a rag soaked in the substance and held to the face. Alternatively, the open container, substance or soaked rag can be placed in a paper or plastic bag and the vapors inhaled from that.
Some sniffers strengthen the effect by sniffing from inside a plastic bag placed over the head. This is very dangerous because the user may suffocate and become unconcious or even die.
Once inhaled, the large surface of the lungs allows rapid absorption of the vapour into the bloodstream. The effect of inhalants on the brain is so fast that sniffing these substances can provide an 'instant high' - in a similar fashion to that of intravenous injection of other drugs.
A note on nitrates
Amyl nitrite was first prescribed for use in small sealed ampoules. When these were broken, they made a snapping sound and illicit users nicknamed these ampoules 'snappers' or 'poppers'. This slang is often used today.
Amyl and butyl nitrites are sometimes abused by nightclub customers who inhale the fumes for the rush whilst dancing. They are also popular as a sex drug, sometimes said to be used for its muscle relaxant properties, but more often for added stimulation at the time of orgasm. The purchase of Amyl nitrite is controlled but Butyl nitrite can be bought from sex and other speciality shops, or in clubs.
How do they work?
Although different in makeup, nearly all of the commonly abused inhalants produce effects similar to that of anesthetics, which act to slow down the body's functions. In general terms they are Central Nervous System depressants.
Various parts of the central nervous system are depressed by inhalants, with all sorts of consequences. For example, when the brain's speech centres are inhibited, this causes slurred speech; when the vision centres are affected this produces distorted vision; when the co-ordination centres are depressed this results in loss of balance and limb control.
The exception to this are Amyl and Butyl nitrites. These compounds widen blood vessels and make the heart beat faster. They exert a very short-lasting stimulant effect.
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