It is partly for this reason, and partly because they are mistakenly believed to be safer than other recreational drugs, that inhalants are especially popular among children and young adolescents. The average age at which adolescents first try these drugs is 13, and one eighth grader in five has used them. Dangerous and potentially lethal in their own right, inhalants often also serve as a gateway to other, stronger drugs. Many common products are either based on organic solvents or contain high concentrations of them. They include gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighter fuel, spray paint, paint thinners and removers, transparent glue, rubber-cement thinner, hair spray, nail polish remover, degreasers, and cleaning fluids.
Organic solvents are the easiest inhalants to obtain and the most dangerous to abuse.
Nitrites are compounds of nitrogen and act mainly as vasodilators, causing the walls of blood vessels to relax so that the vessels enlarge, or dilate. They are used medically to relieve attacks of angina chest pain caused by insufficient blood flow in the vessels serving the heart. They also tend to depress the activity of the central nervous system, producing the giddiness and euphoria of a high. The most commonly abused are amyl nitrite and butyl nitrite. Amyl nitrite is usually packaged in small, crushable glass or plastic capsules, known as poppers or snappers.