What are Inhalants?

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), inhalants are defined as the following:

Inhalants are a class of substances that produce intoxicating chemical vapors that people inhale. These include products easily bought and found in the home, school, or workplace, such as spray paints, correction fluids, felt-tip markers, glues, and cleaning fluids.

When these substances are used for getting high, they are called inhalants. While we are commonly exposed to volatile solvents and other inhalants in the home and workplace, most of us are unaware that these substances can be inhaled as drugs. This is probably because most inhalants were not designed to be used that way and because normal use results in low inhaled concentration.

Inhalants are often called "Gateway Drugs" because they lead to use of other drugs, such as marijuana and methamphetamines. Sometimes the chemical itself becomes the drug of choice and is abused into adulthood. Healthcare professionals and the public generally lack awareness of the toxic effects of inhalants and do not consider that household products could be addicting.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2024) these are the four general categories of inhalants.

Volatile Solvents – liquids that vaporize at room temperature

• Industrial or household products, including:
  
  • Paint thinners or removers
    
  • Dry-cleaning fluids
    
  • Gasoline
    
  • Lighter fluid
  • Degreasers
    
• Art or office supply solvents, including:
  
  • Correction fluids
    
  • Felt-tip marker fluid
  • Glue

Aerosols

• Household aerosol items, including:
  • Spray paints
    
  • Hair or deodorant sprays
    
  • Aerosol computer cleaning products
    
  • Vegetable oil sprays
  • Fabric protector sprays

Gases

• Found in household or commercial products, including:
  
  • Butane lighters
    
  • Propane tanks
    
  • Whipped cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets)
    
• Used as anesthesia (to make patients lose sensation during surgery/procedures), including:
  • Ether
  • Chloroform
  • Halothane
  • Nitrous oxide

Nitrites

• Often sold in small brown bottles labeled as: known as poppers which act directly on the central nervous system causing dilated blood vessel and relaxed muscles.
  

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/inhalants

Substances inhalation techniques

The high from the inhalants are short lived so individuals sustain the high by inhaling again and again.
Those who use inhalants breathe in the fumes through their nose or mouth by:

• "Sniffing" or "Snorting" implies inhaling vapors from a container.
  
• "Spraying" implies spraying an aerosol directly into the mouth.
  
• "Bagging" refers to sniffing or inhaling fumes from substances sprayed or deposited inside a plastic or paper bag.
• "Huffing" involves breathing through an inhalant-soaked rag held over or stuffed into the mouth; or Inhaling from balloons filled with nitrous oxide.

Inhalants are most commonly used by young adolescent by breathing them in through the mouth (huffing or bagging) or the nose (sniffing or snorting).

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/inhalants