Pubdate: Sat, 10 Oct 2009 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 2009 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://DesMoinesRegister.com/help/letter.html Website: http://desmoinesregister.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 'HUFFING' STUDENTS STIR DRUG-PREVENTION GROUP A national drug-prevention group has offered assistance to West Des Moines police and school officials in the wake of suspensions handed out to teenagers who allegedly inhaled compressed gas last week. Alyssa Jones of the Alliance for Consumer Education in Washington, D.C., said the group will provide free inhalant abuse prevention kits for inclusion on the district's twice-yearly drug-education program. Lynn Doescher, whose 14-year-old son, a student at Valley Southwoods freshman school, was among four teens suspended, warned the public about the practice this week. Called "huffing" or "dusting," it delivers a concentration of gas, such as Freon, that replaces oxygen in the lungs. It triggers a brief but intense high that mimics drunkenness. Police said no criminal charges could be filed since inhalants "in and of themselves are not illegal." School officials in 1986 banned students from bringing cans of dust remover and other aerosol products to school after a 16-year-old Valley High School student collapsed and died in a darkroom from the intentional inhalation of a spray used to clean photographic negatives. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr