Sobering Lowdown on Hazardous High : * Inhalants May Seem Like Innocent Fun to Teens, but They Can Be Deadly Serious

It’s easy to understand how young people get caught up in experimenting with inhalants. They seem under the impression that the temporary feeling of lightheadedness they get from inhaling refrigerants, nitrous oxide (laughing gas) or even dust cleaner or other household substances is harmless. But inhalants are no lark; they deprive the body of oxygen and are extremely dangerous. They can cause brain, heart or lung damage--or even death.

In the hopes of steering others away from bad experiences, a south Orange County youth recently told The Times a frightening story of an experiment gone wrong. It bears repeating as a warning to young people and their parents.

The 16-year-old high school football player, Warren (not his real name), was at the home of a friend in Mission Viejo whose parents were away for the weekend. The teen-agers gathered there were drinking beer and passing around a plastic bag filled with a refrigerant that had been drained from the house’s air conditioner. When Warren took a whiff, he passed out and fell backward over a planter wall. He recovered a few minutes later, but the next day underwent surgery for a severed pancreas, the result of the fall.

Warren says it was his first time inhaling an aerosol. But, as school and medical authorities in Mission Viejo soon learned, use of inhalants is not uncommon among the area youths.

And this is not just a local story. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that about one in five high school seniors have used an inhalant. That number has remained somewhat steady since 1979, while there has been a downward trend in use of most other drugs. (Alcohol, of course, is by far the most abused substance among high school seniors; nearly 30% had imbibed five or more drinks in a row during the previous two weeks, and more than half had had a drink in the previous month.)

What makes inhalants attractive to young people is that most are cheap, easy to obtain and can produce a short, intense feeling of euphoria. One of the most common inhalants, nitrous oxide, is illegal if used for recreation. But prosecutions are rare, and the drug is readily available in the underground warehouse party scene.

Warren’s experience has brought a new awareness in south Orange County of the dangers of inhalants. But young people everywhere need to get the message: Inhalants can result in permanent injury or death.

A few minutes of giddiness hardly seem worth the risk.