Volatile substance abuse

Anderson HR, Dick B, MacNair RS, et al An investigation of 140 deaths associated with volatile substance abuse in the United Kingdom (1971-1981). Hum Toxicol 1 207-221, 1982... 

Volatile Substance Abuse. Department of Health, Her Majesty s Stationery Office, London... 

Nitrous oxide is difficult to categorize. Technically, it is an inhalant, yet there are several characteristics that set the drug apart from the typical volatile substances that inhalant abusers favor. First, N20 is not as readily accessible as hair spray, glue, household cleaners, and other off-the-shelf huffing chemicals of choice. Secondly, since nitrous oxide is an actual prescription anesthetic, it may have more perceived prestige among users who would look down at most volatile substance abuse as kid s stuff. ... 

Flanagan, R.J., P.J Streete, and J.D. Ramsey. Volatile Substance Abuse Practical Guidelines for Analytical Investigation of Suspected Gases and Interpretation of Results. UNDCP Technical Series, No. 5. Vienna, Austria United Nations Office on Drugs and Grime, 1997. 

Signs of frequent volatile substance abuse include perioral eczema and inflammation of the upper respiratory tract. 

Ramsey J, Anderson HR, Bloor K, Flanagan RJ. An introduction to the practice, prevalence and chemical toxicology of volatile substance abuse. Hum Toxicol 1989 8 261-9. 

A form of substance abuse of increasing interest is the recreational use of inhalants. Taken literally, this classification is useless, as it may be construed to include use of tobacco, crack cocaine, or marijuana (Sharp 1992). A better designation may be "volatile substance" abuse, a more accurate description of an important drug abuse pattern. Volatile substances that are commonly abused include glues, aerosols, anesthetics, cleaning agents, and solvents (Sharp 1992). Abuse of inhalants has been associated with a variety of toxicologies... 

Caldemeyer KS, Pascuzzi RM, Moran CC, et al Toluene abuse causing reduced MR signal intensity in the brain. American Journal of Radiology 161 1259-1261, 1993 Chadwick OFD, Anderson HR Neuropsychological consequences of volatile substance abuse a review. Hum Toxicol 8 307-312, 1989 Chang LW, Katz J Pathologic effects of chronic halothane inhalation an overview. Anesthesiology 45 640-653, 1976... 

Today, if anaesthesia is excluded, acute poisoning with solvents and other volatile substances usually follows deliberate inhalation of vapour in order to become intoxicated [volatile substance abuse (VSA)]. Patients who ingest solvents or solvent-containing products either by accident or... 

Ron MA. Volatile substance abuse a review of possible long-term neurological, intellectual, and psychiatric sequela. Br J Psychiatry 1986 148 235-246. 

Gaulier, J.M. Tonnay, V. Faict, T. Sayer, H. Marquet, P. Lachatre, G. (2003) Analytical aspects of volatile substance abuse (VSA). Journal of forensic science 48,4,1-3. 

Stewart RD, Fisher TN, Hosko MJ, et al Experimental human exposure to methylene chloride. Arch Environ Health 25 342-348, 1972 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Preliminary Estimates from the 1995 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Rockville, MD, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996 Tenenbein M, PillayN Sensory evoked potentials in inhalant (volatile solvent) abuse. J Paediatr Child Health 29 206-208, 1993... 

As with urine, saliva (spumm) is easy to collect. The levels of protein and lipids in saliva or spumm are low (compared to blood samples). These matrices are viscous, which is why extraction efficiency of xenobioties amoimts to only 5 to 9%. By acidifying the samples, extraction efficiencies are improved as the samples are clarified, and proteinaceous material and cellular debris are precipitated and removed. Some xenobioties and their metabohtes are expressed in hair. Hair is an ideal matrix for extraction of analytes to nonpolar phases, especially when the parent xenobioties are extensively metabolized and often nondetectable in other tissues (parent molecules of xenobioties are usually less polar than metabolites). Hair is a popular target for forensic purposes and to monitor drug compliance and abuse. Human milk may be an indicator of exposure of a newborn to compounds to which the mother has been previously exposed. The main components of human milk are water (88%), proteins (3%), lipids (3%), and carbohydrates in the form of lactose (6%). At present, increasing attention is devoted to the determination of xenobioties in breath. This matrix, however, contains only volatile substances, whose analysis is not related to PLC applications. 

Glue sniffing exploded in Singapore between 1980 and 1991. The Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore reported 24 cases of inhalent abuse in 1980. In 1985 the reported cases rose to 1,005. Recently, in South America, researchers found that almost a quarter of children of low-income families in Sao Paulo, Brazil, had inhaled a volatile substance at some time in their lives, and 4.9% had done so within the previous month. In Mexico, researchers who conducted a survey of street children found that 12% had started using glue regularly by the age of nine. 

Researchers have found high inhalant use in other countries as well. An estimated 3.5% to 10% of children age 12 and under in the United Kingdom have abused volatile substances and between 0.5% and 1% have become long-term users. In 1999, Australia s National Drug Alcohol Centre secondary school survey of 25,480 students found that 32% of 12-year-old boys and 37% of 12-year-old girls reported that they had used an inhalant at some point. 

Most states have laws regarding inhalant (or volatile substance) use and abuse on the books. In recent years, laws that are specific to nitrous oxide use and distribution have been written in many states. For example, in Connecticut, Arizona, Texas, and Michigan, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase nitrous oxide, even in food grade cartridges. In Arizona, anyone caught selling N20 to minors faces up to 18 months in jail and a 150,000 fine. 

In the UK 3.5-10% of children under 13 years have abused volatile substances, and 0.5-1% are long-term users (3). In 1980 24 cases of solvent abuse were reported in Singapore, but by 1984 the number had increased to 763 and from 1987-91, 1781 glue sniffers were identified. In 2004, it was reported that street children in India were abusing typewriter eraser fluid, which contains toluene. In low-income families in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 24% of children had inhaled a volatile substance at some time and 4.9% had inhaled within the last month. 

The fact that there are so many different compounds abused as inhalants brings up question of how all of these compounds act on the brain. Do they all act in the same way The answer to this question will be discussed in Chapter 4. It has been argued by some researchers that inhalant abuse should be regrouped as solvent abuse, volatile anesthetic abuse, and nitrite abuse, since the populations that abuse these substances are different." Solvents are primarily abused by teenagers, anesthetics are generally abused by older professionals who have access to them, and nitrites are abused by populations older than teenagers. In the case of nitrites, as will be discussed later, the way the chemical acts upon the body appears to be quite different as well. In this book, the differences between these subgroups of inhalants will be discussed when useful. 

Inhalants are the only abused substance classified solely by their means of administration—abusers take them by breathing in vapors from volatile substances. Thus, researchers must try to characterize a wide variety of substances and chemicals found in hundreds of common household, industrial, commercial, and medical products that can be inhaled to produce a psychoactive effect."... 

Volatile solvent abuse or glue sniffing, is common among teenagers, especially males. The success of the modem chemical industry provides easy access to these substances as adhesives, dry cleaners, air fresheners, deodorants, aerosols and other products. Various techniques of administration are employed viscous products may be inhaled from a plastic bag, liquids from a handkerchief or plastic bottle. The immediate euphoriant and excitatory effects are replaced by confusion, hallucinations and delusions as the dose is increased. Chronic abusers, notably of toluene, develop peripheral neuropathy, cerebellar disease and dementia damage to the kidney, liver, heart and limgs also occurs with solvents. Over 50% of deaths from the practice follow cardiac arrhythmia, probably caused by sensitisation of the myocardium to catecholamines and by vagal inhibition... 

Under 16 years volatile inhalants, e.g. solvents of glues, aerosol sprays, vaporised (by heat) paints, solvent or substance abuse, gluesniffing. ... 

McHugh MJ. 1987. The abuse of volatile substances. Pediatr Clin North Am 34 333-340. 

Abuse of volatile substances (lighter fuel, aerosols, glue) is often more common amongst schoolchildren than amphetamines and ecstasy, and is increasing in some countries. 

In Hungary, sedative and benzodiazepine use accounted for 26 % of all treatment statistics in 1 998, and for 1 7.9 % in Romania in 1997. In Latvia in 1998, 34.2 % of all psychotropic substance use involved volatile substances, while sedatives accounted for 10.1 %. In Slovakia, the proportion of volatile substance users among all treated clients was 1 0 to 11 % between 1 994 and 1 998, while sedative use accounted for 6 % of all demands for treatment in 1998. A national survey of 15-year-olds conducted in 1995 in Slovenia found a significant percentage of glue and other substance abuse, as well as of tranquillisers, particularly among girls. 

Clinical chemists and toxicologists should be aware that the detection of volatile substances in blood does not always indicate inhalant abuse or occupational exposure. Acetone and other volatile compounds may be found in ketoacidotic patients and some inborn errors of metabolism result in the accumulation of volatile compounds. Even though many studies and case reports have included concentrations of volatile substances in blood, definitive correlations between these blood concentrations and the clinical features of toxicity have not been demonstrated for any of these compounds. 

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