Adults are now the majority who try "huffing"

A new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration finds that adults now represent a majority of hospital admissions for inhalant abuse. "Huffing" or intentionally inhaling a chemical vapor to get high, has long been a problem among children and teenagers. The SAMHSA study found that in 2008, 54 percent of treatment admissions for inhalant abuse were for adults.
　
The SAMHSA study learned that 52 percent of these adult hospital admissions were for people aged 18 to 29, 32 percent were for people aged 30 to 44, and 16 percent involved people over the age of 45 abusing inhalants. The SAMHSA study was based on information from substance abuse treatment centers across the United States.
　
Inhalants are dangerous. Continued huffing can lead to irreversible brain damage, lung and kidney damage, as well as death in extreme cases. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration worked together with the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition to produce this study. The most recent numbers from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that it is estimated that 1.1 million adults used inhalants in the past year.
　
"Inhalant abuse is an equal opportunity killer that does not discriminate on the basis of age, background or gender," said H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., MPH, director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. "Although we have been understandably focused for many years on the danger huffing poses to our kids, this new data highlights the need for everyone to be aware of and effectively address the serious risks it poses to adults and all segments of our society."