What Are Inhalants?
The word inhalants refers to the vapors from toxic substances that are inhaled to reach a quick high.
These substances include solvents, aerosol sprays, gases and nitrites (prescription medicines used to lower blood pressure). According to the National Poison Data System, about 3,400 different products are now being abused as inhalants. These include common household and industrial products such as shoe polish, glue, gasoline, lighter fluid, whipped cream aerosols, nitrous oxide* (called whippets or laughing gas), spray paint, correction fluid, cleaning fluid, felt-tip marker fluid, paint thinners and other paint solvents.
Most inhalants act like anesthetics, which slow down the body’s functions. After an initial high and loss of inhibition comes drowsiness, lightheadedness and agitation.
The chemicals are absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream and quickly reach the brain and other organs. This can sometimes cause irreversible physical and mental damage.
Users inhale the chemical vapors directly from open containers (sniffing) or breathe fumes from rags soaked in chemicals (huffing). Some people spray substances directly into their nose or mouth, or pour chemicals onto their collar, sleeves or cuffs and sniff them periodically. In bagging, the user inhales fumes from a substance put inside a paper or plastic bag. Bagging in a closed area significantly increases the risk of suffocation.
* nitrous oxide: a colorless, sweet‑smelling gas used as an anesthetic
Street Names for Inhalants
- Air Blast
- Ames
- Amys
- Aroma of Men
- Bolt
- Boppers
- Bullet
- Bullet Bolt
- Buzz Bomb
- Discorama
- Hardware
- Heart‑on
- Highball
- Hippie Crack
- Huff
- Laughing Gas
- Locker Room
- Medusa
- Moon Gas
- Oz
- Pearls
- Poor Man’s Pot
- Poppers
- Quicksilver
- Rush
- Satan’s Secret
- Shoot the Breeze
- Snappers
- Snotballs
- Spray
- Texas Shoeshine
- Thrust
- Toilet Water
- Toncho
- Viagra in a Bottle
- Whippets
- Whiteout
It was a steady progression from glue sniffing and gas sniffing to magic mushrooms that went on until I was 17. Then I started on cannabis. I was spending my money on as much cannabis as I could get my hands on. Then I was old enough to go into the clubs, so I started there on amphetamines and Ecstasy.
“I began hanging out with people who were taking heroin, and soon I was using it more and more until I was addicted. I had no idea then the damage it would cause me later, that I would be serving one prison sentence after another, burglarizing people’s houses, stealing from my family. All the pain and heartache that I have caused was worse than stealing the material things from them.” —Dennis
When I was in 4th grade, a so‑called friend of mine introduced me to inhalants. Being so young and not knowing any better, I started huffing gas every day all the way up to my 8th-grade year. My motor function skills are pretty much shot and I sit for hours on end just staring into space without a single thought even crossing my mind. It’s like my body is here but I am not. I have a hard time holding down jobs, and I have been living by myself now for 12 years. I look normal from the outside but, when I try to show interest and talk to women, it becomes apparent that I am pretty much a vegetable. I am sick of living this way and I would rather be dead than live my life like this anymore, because it seems like I’m already dead anyway.” —John
How Do Inhalants Affect Your Body?
Short-Term Effects
Are Inhalants Addictive?
International Statistics
Different Types of Inhalants
Are Inhalants Legal?
Inhalants: A Short History
The Truth About Drugs
How much do you really know about inhalants?
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