Inhalants and Steroids

• Anabolic Steroids are synthetic drugs that are similar to hormones and testosterone.

• Legal uses of this drug include treating growth disorders and certain types of anemia.

Why take steroids?

• Inhibition of Natural Hormones

• Liver Damage• Rise in Cholesterol• Acne• Roid Rage• Baldness

• Developments of male characteristics in women

• Stunts Growth• High Blood Pressure• Kidney Failure• Cardiovascular

Problems

• Substances or fumes that are sniffed or “huffed” to achieve a fast high.

• A breathable chemical vapor that produces mind-altering effects

• Some inhalants are used for medical purposes such as, anesthetics for dentists and doctors during surgery.

Volatile Solvents

Gases

Aerosols and Sprays

Nitrites

4 CATEGORIES OF INHALANTS

• are liquids that vaporize at room temperature and are found in products such as paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline and felt-tip marker fluids.

VOLATILE SOLVENTS

• that contain propellants and solvents and include spray paints, deodorant and hair sprays, vegetable oil sprays for cooking, and fabric protector sprays.

AEROSOL & SPRAYS

• used as inhalants include medical anesthetics (ether, chloroform, and nitrous oxide) as well as gases used in household or commercial products (butane lighters, propane tanks, whipped cream dispensers, and helium tanks).

GASES

• include nitrite, and are commonly known as "poppers" or "snappers

NITRITES

• Whippets • Poppers • Snappers• Satan's Secret • Buzz Bomb• Shoot the Breeze• Snotballs• Texas Shoe Shine

• Highball• Hippie Crack• Toilet Water• Huff• Laughing Gas• Helium• Nitris• O2 Bomb

STREET TALK

Signs of a User

• Acting intoxicated• Lightheadedness • Dizziness • Loss of inhibitions • Slurred speech • Missing household

products

• Hallucinations or delusions

• Glassy/glazed eyes• Loss of appetite • Chemical smells coming

from their child's breath or clothing

• Signs of paint or other products on the face or fingers

A True Story…Last weekend, 14-year-old girl told her parents she was going to a slumber

party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Oregon, where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana.

After drinking on the drive, and downing more drinks in the condo, it came time for the girl to take her turn on a tank of helium that everyone else was inhaling to make their voices sound funny.

"That helium tank got going around," said the girls stepfather, who learned what happened from talking to the girl’s friends at the party. "It got to my daughter. My daughter didn't want to do it. It was peer pressure. They put a mask up to her face. They said it would be OK. `It's not gonna hurt you. It'll just make you laugh and talk funny.'“

Instead, she passed out and later died at a hospital, the result of an obstruction in a blood vessel caused by inhaling helium from a pressurized tank.

References

• MothersAwareness.orghttp://www.maskmatters.org/educate/high-school/inhalants?gclid=CNi_sbyewq4CFWUQNAod0nUTWA

• Health Prentice Hall page. 445 (Pruitt, Allegrante, Prothrow-Sith)

• Steroids.comhttp://www.steroid.com/

• Images from www.google.com/image