Inhalants might not rival marijuana in terms of usage in the middle and high school level, but, he noted, among the adolescents who choose to use it, it has become their drug of choice. These kids often don't make it to their junior or senior year in high school. Even if it doesn't cause death, inhalant abuse can result in headaches, muscle weakness, abdominal pain, loss of sense of smell, irregular heartbeat, violent behavior, hepatitis, nosebleeds and involuntary passing of urine and feces. But Masterson has seen it hurt. The blistered mouths, the throats stripped raw from chemicals.
Inhalants are accessible.
They are convenient. They are cheap. No one is going to look twice if a teen-ager buys an extra gallon of gasoline at the pumps. It doesn't have the availability factor of cocaine or heroin, said Carl McQueen, a student-assisted service counselor at Cooper High School. Still, some of the most chronic drug users won't experiment with inhalants, he said.