Students are curious about inhalants. They already know that being around substances like paint thinner, fingernail polish remover, hairspray, airplane glue or gasoline can make them feel a little light headed, and it’s possible they’ve heard their peers talking about getting a buzz or feeling high from purposely sniffing them. But because these substances are everyday items and readily available, many young people assume they must be safe.

On the contrary, household items that carry warning labels are very much a risk if abused. The goal of Core Lesson Eight on inhalants is to teach students on how to protect themselves from all toxic chemicals and to understand the danger of using certain ones as inhalants.

Most Project ALERT lessons focus on social consequences, but Lesson Eight also focuses on serious physical consequences. The poster for this lesson is especially important, for it graphically describes how the body reacts to toxic ingredients. We want to help students understand that if they breathe the fumes created by toxic chemicals, their bodies absorb these toxins as readily as if they were drinking them. You might share with your class that using inhalants is the same as drinking gasoline—a revolting thought that should get them to think twice about sniffing, or huffing, the fumes of toxic substances. Also stress to them that inhalants are so dangerous that you can suffer permanent physical damage, or even death, the first time you try them.

The importance of Core Lesson Eight can’t be overstated. Anybody with money, no matter how young they are, can buy toxic products and use them as inhalants. And they are doing it. We know that one in ten eighth graders has tried inhalants, and that more fourth graders try inhalants than cigarettes.

Adults often find it difficult to believe these statistics. But head-in-the-sand thinking can have serious consequences for young people: not only are they getting high from household products, but we also know, without question, that inhalants are one of our most serious and potentially deadly drugs.

The 2012 Monitoring the Future study shows the following inhalant data for 8th graders:

• Lifetime use - 11.8%
• Annual use - 6.2%
• 30-day use - 2.7%
• Disapproval of use - 83%

Substance abuse prevention programs that begin in middle school may help deter prescription drug abuse in later years, new research suggests.

Scientists analyzed findings from three studies of family- and school-based prevention programs designed for rural and small-town middle school students. They found students who went through substance abuse prevention programs were 20 percent to 65 percent less likely to abuse prescription drugs and opioids when they were between 17 and 25 years old, compared with students who did not participate in the programs.

The programs focused on general risk and protective factors of substance abuse. “Brief universal interventions have potential for public health impact by reducing prescription drug misuse among adolescents and young adults,” the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Public Health.

“The intervention effects were comparable or even stronger for participants who had started misusing substances prior to the middle school interventions, suggesting that these programs also can be successful in higher-risk groups,” lead author Richard Spoth, PhD, from the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute at Iowa State University in Ames, said in a news release.

Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, noted that prescription medications can be helpful when they are prescribed to treat pain, anxiety, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. “However, their abuse can have serious consequences. We are especially concerned about prescription drug abuse among teens, who are developmentally at an increased risk for addiction,” she said.

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Middle school students are less likely to think using drugs is bad if their parents told them about their own past substance use, a new study finds. Children whose parents warned them not to use drugs were more likely to avoid them, ABC News reports.

The study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign included 561 middle school students. They were less likely to accept drug use if their parents set rules against drugs, and told them about people who have gotten into trouble because of drugs.

“Parents should really hit on what are the bad things that can happen, health-wise, from using drugs,” researcher Jennifer Kam told ABC News. ”They should really clearly tell kids that they disapprove of them using drugs. Also, give them strategies to avoid use or decline use in a way that makes them look cool.”

She advised parents against lying. “I wouldn’t volunteer the information, but if a child asks, and a parent lies, it could impact the relationship later on,” she noted.

The study appears in the journal Human Communication Research.

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