According to the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, lifetime inhalant use for 8th graders increased significantly in the past year with more than 17 percent reporting having purposely inhaled potentially toxic vapors often found in common household products.

To bring attention to inhalant abuse, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, will host a meeting, Inhalant Abuse: An Increasing Problem in Youth, on Tuesday, January 11, 2005, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Room 147B of the Washington, DC Convention Center. The meeting will coincide with the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s (CADCA’s) National Leadership Forum XV.

This CADCA forum is the nation’s largest training conference for community coalition activists and substance abuse professionals, featuring more than 80 workshops on the latest research in the substance abuse prevention and treatment fields.

The MTF survey, funded by NIDA and released in December 2004, showed that lifetime use of inhalants among 8th-graders continued to rise — increasing from 15.8 percent of 8th graders in 2003 to 17.3 percent of 8th graders in 2004.

“To reverse this alarming trend, NIDA will be working with CADCA and other partners to educate parents, children and others that inhalants — often common household products (glue, shoe polish, gasoline) — can create potentially deadly vapors and can cause serious damage to major organs, including the brain, liver, heart, kidneys, and lungs,“ Dr. Nora D. Volkow, NIDA Director, explained. “We’ll also use the Internet to inform the public about inhalant abuse. Those who are interested can log onto NIDA’s new website, www.inhalants.drugabuse.gov, for the latest information about inhalant abuse. NIDA also has just published an Inhalants Community Drug Alert Bulletin that will be distributed online and in hard copy to organizations and individuals around the country.”

In addition to welcoming remarks from Dr. Volkow and NIDA’s partners, CADCA Chairman and CEO Arthur T. Dean (Major General, U.S. Army Retired) and National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC) Founder and Executive Director Harvey Weiss, attendees will hear about the latest research on inhalant abuse. Researchers from around the country will discuss use patterns, prevention strategies and the application of neuroimaging advances related to inhalants. Speakers include: Dr. Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan, Dr. Robert Balster of Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Stephen Dewey of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Dr. William Crano of Claremont Graduate University.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports more than 85 percent of the world’s research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to ensure the rapid dissemination of research information and its implementation in policy and practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at http://www.drugabuse.gov.