BEST PRACTICE
Volatile substance abuse
Correspondence to:
For correspondence:
Dr Dan Harris
Department of Emergency Medicine, St Mary’s Hospital NHS Trust, Praed Street, London W2 1NY, UK; drdanharris@msn.com
Keywords: solvent abuse; volatile substance abuse; butane; inhalant abuse
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
"I’m a deprived kid,
And no-one loves me,
So I turn to my glue bag,
To make me happy"
Corine, aged 15.1
Volatile substance abuse (VSA) continues to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity among the teenage and younger population of the United Kingdom. Of the 1887 known deaths recorded between 1983 and 2003, over 50% involved people younger than 18 years of age; deaths have been reported in people as young as 7 and old as 75.2
Prevalence studies have repeatedly shown VSA to be the drug of choice in the 11- to 13-year-old age group in England and Wales, second only to marijuana among 14- to 15-year-olds.3
VSA is defined as the deliberate inhalation of a volatile substance to achieve a change in mental state.2 Once synonymous with glue sniffing within the UK, the term now most closely applies to the inhalation of aerosols and gas
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