Inhalants

INTERNATIONAL STATISTICS

22% of inhalant abusers who died had no history of previous inhalant abuse. In Karachi, Pakistan, 80% to 90% of street kids sniff glue or solvents.
22% of inhalant abusers who died had no history of previous inhalant abuse. In Karachi, Pakistan, 80% to 90% of street kids sniff glue or solvents.

A US survey, combining data from 2002 to 2006, found that an annual average of 593,000 teens aged 12 to 17 had used inhalants for the first time in the year before they took the survey.

  • More than 22.9 million Americans have experimented with inhalants at some point in their lives.
  • One state in the US averaged more than 3,800 emergency room visits and 450 hospitalizations a year due to inhalant poisonings, according to statistics released in 2008.
  • By the time students in the US reach the eighth grade, one in five will have used inhalants. In 2007, inhalants were the substance most frequently abused by youth aged 12 or 13.
  • 22% of inhalant abusers who died of Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome had no history of previous inhalant abuse—they were first-time users.
  • According to the European School Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs, 20% of youth in the 12 to 16 age group have tried inhalants.
  • In Nairobi, Kenya, an estimated 60,000 children live on the streets and almost all are addicted to some sort of inhalant.
  • In the Pakistani city of Karachi there are an estimated 14,000 street kids, of whom 80% to 90% sniff glue or solvents.
  • In the US, the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 1.1 million youths aged 12 to 17 had used inhalants in the past year.