[Solvent and Volatile Substance Abuse] 9/20/2010 10:41:00 AM

[Re-Solv]

VSA Headlines: August / September

The past week has been dominated by the story of Prince Harry inhaling nitrous oxide. Re-Solv's press release in response to the story is reprinted below this month's international headlines.

UK

Asthmatic died after inhaling 'poppers': A Weston man with chronic asthma died after inhaling 'poppers', an inquest heard.

Big fine after fuel sold to teenager (Kettering): A shopkeeper has been fined more than £900 after he admitted selling lighter fluid to a 14-year-old girl.

Action call after claims that drugs and glue sniffing are 'ruining' Churchdown (Gloucester): Residents have called for action after drug taking and glue sniffing in Churchdown.

USA

Father warns parents after son died from 'huffing (Gilbert, Arizona): It has been less than two weeks since he found his son dead, now a Gilbert father hopes others will learn from his son's fatal mistake.

Red Bluff teen was huffing before he drowned (Red Bluff, California): A Red Bluff teen who drowned last month was huffing while he was swimming, the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office reported today.

Tests show Nebraska boy died from inhaling gas fumes (Elm Creek, Nebraska): Toxicology tests show that a 12-year-old boy who died this summer in south-central Nebraska had inhaled gasoline fumes.

Boy's death caused by butane (Yigo, Guam): A teenager who was found dead in Yigo on Labor Day suffocated after inhaling butane in an attempt to get high, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Aurelio Espinola said yesterday.

Marshall man crashes his car after huffing (Wabash Valley, Illinois): While in route to Carle Hospital, Lake told emergency personnel he had been huffing.

SAFE recognized for reducing inhalant use (Chesterfield County, Virginia): In 2005, SAFE made it a priority to reduce the use of inhalants among young people. Armed with survey data from that year indicating that eighth-graders were using inhalants at twice the national average, the coalition developed an ambitious plan to educate the community about the then little-known issue.

Murphy touts passage of inhalant bill: Representative Charley Murphy hailed House passage of a bill which provides a critical treatment option to a growing number of Massachusetts families who suffer the destructive effects of inhalant abuse.

There have also been a range of arrests for huffing, including two separate instances in Texas where vulnerable children have been removed from the care of parents engaged in paint huffing. Stories of teens arrested for driving while inhaling came from Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, while a charge of manslaughter has been made against a teen in North Carolina. Finally, concern has been expressed by police in Indiana that minors are breaking into air conditioning units to huff freon.

Mexico

Mexico's poorest addicts turn to cheap inhalants: Despite the tons of narcotics moving through Mexico, inhalants remain the drug of choice for many Mexicans, offering a stark lesson in the economics of addiction even as the country wages a bloody battle against drug cartels.

Australia

Teen sniffer's lonely death: So brain-damaged by petrol sniffing, he could no longer talk, just grunt and stare glazed into the distance. The death of this young petrol sniffer in Western Australia has sparked calls for new laws that would force people into rehabilitation.

Rape accused inhaled solvents: A man who allegedly took a woman to a construction site in Perth's CBD and sexually assaulted her had inhaled some solvents, a court has heard.

Israel

Cousins die after inhaling laughing gas: The senseless deaths of two 18-year-old cousins after inhaling laughing gas from a stolen cylinder has shocked local communities in the Kiryat Malachi area.

Fiji
Government to control dangerous substance sale: Cabinet has approved the development of the Substance Abuse Decree to control the sale and supply of, legal but dangerous substances over shop counters.

Singapore

Singapore Reports Drug Seizures Up In First Half Of 2010: The inhalant abuse situation in the first half of 2010 registered an improvement compared to the same period last year.

India

Substance abuse high among ragpickers: HUBLI: Begging children and ragpickers here have now found a new way to be intoxicated -by inhaling Kores-Eraz-ex, a fluid used to erase/ whiten the mistakes on documents.

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Posted By Re-Solv to Solvent and Volatile Substance Abuse on 9/20/2010 10:41:00 AM