...we're here to help you, Harry.
"I thought it was my fault that my Mom drinks."
http://www.bettyfordcenter.org/programs/programs/meditation/index.html#
Betty Ford Center considers spirituality vital for recovery. In the 12 Step program, each person's spirituality is treated with dignity and respect. We invite each person to consider spirituality as an important part of a healthy, hopeful and vibrant recovery.
Danger Right Under Your Nose
It's been used by more teens than any other illegal drug except marijuana. It can kill the first time it's used. Kids can get it without any problem. "It" is the class of drugs collectively known as inhalants, and as a current ad campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America notes, the chemicals used in this deadly form of substance abuse aren't only found on the street - they're right under your sink.
"It's all the stuff we worried about when they were toddlers," said Anne Rickards, whose 14-year-old son was found dead in an Essington, Pennsylvania park with a butane canister in his hand. "We would say, 'No, get away from that,' stuff we thought they would swallow. Well, the spray can also kill them as teenagers."
That's what happened early this year on a road outside Philadelphia, where a coroner says an honors student inhaled aerosol fumes and lost consciousness while driving. Her car plowed into a tree, killing her nearly two years to the day after five other girls from the same region were killed in a car crash blamed on inhalants.
"I'm afraid that huffing has become more of an in-thing for kids to do," said Chester County coroner Rodger Rothenberger. The numbers suggest he's right: according to the 2000 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, 21 percent of all teens in America - one in five - have tried inhalants. Only alcohol, tobacco and marijuana have been tried by more kids.
"Young people think inhaling a gas is harmless," said Chattanooga, Tennessee, addictions counselor Pat Fitzpatrick. "It doesn't look like a drug."
But the reality is that inhalants can kill, and they have also been linked to brain damage, liver and kidney problems, hearing loss and limb spasms - all risks linked to chasing a high that often lasts just a matter of minutes.
Inhalants can be found in hundreds of common products, including nail polish remover, cleaning fluids, hair spray, gasoline, the propellant in aerosol whipped cream, spray paint, fabric protector, modeling glue, air conditioner fluid (freon), cooking spray and correction fluid. The fumes be sniffed, snorted, inhaled from a plastic bag or "huffed" from an inhalant-soaked rag, sock, or roll of toilet paper or sniffed directly from the container - and access to products kids can abuse is easy.
"A person doesn't have to go somewhere seedy to get this stuff," said Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. "Kids have died from inhalants in schools and in church. It can happen anywhere."
However, many parents are unaware of the risks inhalants pose. Nearly four out of ten don't think it's extremely dangerous to sniff things like spray paint or gasoline once or twice. Further, just three percent of all parents think their child has tried inhalants.
"I looked under my own kitchen sink and found 15 chemicals that my children could abuse," said Sandra Hampton, a substance abuse counselor outside Atlanta. "We need to be honest with our kids and warn them about the risks."
http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/Temp...Under+Your+Nose+#Danger Right Under Your Nose
"I thought it was my fault that my Mom drinks."
http://www.bettyfordcenter.org/programs/programs/meditation/index.html#
Betty Ford Center considers spirituality vital for recovery. In the 12 Step program, each person's spirituality is treated with dignity and respect. We invite each person to consider spirituality as an important part of a healthy, hopeful and vibrant recovery.
Danger Right Under Your Nose
It's been used by more teens than any other illegal drug except marijuana. It can kill the first time it's used. Kids can get it without any problem. "It" is the class of drugs collectively known as inhalants, and as a current ad campaign from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America notes, the chemicals used in this deadly form of substance abuse aren't only found on the street - they're right under your sink.
"It's all the stuff we worried about when they were toddlers," said Anne Rickards, whose 14-year-old son was found dead in an Essington, Pennsylvania park with a butane canister in his hand. "We would say, 'No, get away from that,' stuff we thought they would swallow. Well, the spray can also kill them as teenagers."
That's what happened early this year on a road outside Philadelphia, where a coroner says an honors student inhaled aerosol fumes and lost consciousness while driving. Her car plowed into a tree, killing her nearly two years to the day after five other girls from the same region were killed in a car crash blamed on inhalants.
"I'm afraid that huffing has become more of an in-thing for kids to do," said Chester County coroner Rodger Rothenberger. The numbers suggest he's right: according to the 2000 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, 21 percent of all teens in America - one in five - have tried inhalants. Only alcohol, tobacco and marijuana have been tried by more kids.
"Young people think inhaling a gas is harmless," said Chattanooga, Tennessee, addictions counselor Pat Fitzpatrick. "It doesn't look like a drug."
But the reality is that inhalants can kill, and they have also been linked to brain damage, liver and kidney problems, hearing loss and limb spasms - all risks linked to chasing a high that often lasts just a matter of minutes.
Inhalants can be found in hundreds of common products, including nail polish remover, cleaning fluids, hair spray, gasoline, the propellant in aerosol whipped cream, spray paint, fabric protector, modeling glue, air conditioner fluid (freon), cooking spray and correction fluid. The fumes be sniffed, snorted, inhaled from a plastic bag or "huffed" from an inhalant-soaked rag, sock, or roll of toilet paper or sniffed directly from the container - and access to products kids can abuse is easy.
"A person doesn't have to go somewhere seedy to get this stuff," said Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. "Kids have died from inhalants in schools and in church. It can happen anywhere."
However, many parents are unaware of the risks inhalants pose. Nearly four out of ten don't think it's extremely dangerous to sniff things like spray paint or gasoline once or twice. Further, just three percent of all parents think their child has tried inhalants.
"I looked under my own kitchen sink and found 15 chemicals that my children could abuse," said Sandra Hampton, a substance abuse counselor outside Atlanta. "We need to be honest with our kids and warn them about the risks."
http://www.drugfreeamerica.org/Temp...Under+Your+Nose+#Danger Right Under Your Nose
