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. 
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