'Be a mentor'

Neil MacLean
Neil MacLean
To most people, the practice of huffing - inhaling solvents to get a "high" - would seem so evidently dangerous as to be beyond the need for warnings. Why anyone would choose to inhale propellants for a "buzz" is beyond comprehension for most of us.

However, this week's tragedy in Mosgiel has brought the extent of the problem into sharp focus.

For the few who may somehow be unaware of what happened, two teenagers were left fighting for their lives after they suffered critical injuries on Monday when several 9kg lpg bottles, from which they were believed to be huffing, exploded. Their injuries are horrific, and their lives - and those of their loved ones - will likely never be the same.

In the wake of the Mosgiel incident, chief coroner Judge Neil MacLean announced he would conduct an urgent review on huffing, saying he was surprised to discover there had been 30 huffing-related deaths in New Zealand in the past 11 years. This had prompted a review of coronial findings into those deaths. Of course, the number of deaths will be only a small percentage of "huffers". And to the families and loved ones of those involved, the deaths are a tragedy.

But there will be many more people suffering silent tragedies of their own as they deal with the consequences of such behaviour from family members and close friends who have indulged in huffing, to the long-term detriment of their health and wellbeing. For many, the consequences of huffing - also known as bagging or sniffing - will be life-changing, yet will never make the headlines.

What makes the problem so difficult to deal with, as Judge MacLean explains, is that "the truth of the matter is there are very few recommendations" that will work for such readily available products. It would seem unlikely that introducing legislation to restrict access to such products would be passed, let alone achieve anything. After all, how many New Zealand families own lpg-powered barbecues?

Given many of the other propellants used for huffing are similarly common-place in households, it is hard to see that (even if laws were passed to restrict access) such bans would have any real impact.

Given those facts, Judge MacLean sensibly urged families to talk to their children about the dangers of huffing. As Child Youth Mortality Review Committee chairman Dr Nick Baker said this week, the compounds being inhaled "are extremely poisonous substances to the heart and brain". Most of us already know that. And most of us accept the simplicity of Judge MacLean's message that "this is a ghastly thing to do to yourself ... it is stupid." But how many of us escaped our teenage or early 20s years without indulging in behaviour we would now label "stupid"?

And how many of us at that most risk-taking stage of our lives ignored well-meaning messages from the more mature amongst us that we were being so?

Given human nature, it is important that we have such conversations with our children while they are still young enough to pay attention, and perhaps pay some heed to what we are saying.

But nor should we ignore the signs if we have suspicions that someone we know may already be using solvents to get high. This newspaper on Thursday published a list of indicators that a child may be abusing propellants.

Hopefully, people such as parents, caregivers, teachers and other "role models" for our children read and retain the information and will use it to initiate conversations with or seek help for loved ones.

The words "role models" should also cause us to pause for thought.

Youngsters model their behaviour on that of the people who surround them. Many of us are guilty of laughing or joking about "getting stoned" or "getting trolleyed".

To then lecture adolescents about the dangers of doing so is not only hypocritical, it is dangerous. And remember, it is not just solvents that we use and abuse. Seventeen-year-old Verity Johnson, in an opinion article about binge drinking published in the Otago Daily Times this week, perhaps provided the most mature message of all: "Adults need to help teach teens. Set a good example at home. Be a mentor. Otherwise teens might not make it to adulthood."

 

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