NIDA for Teens: The Science Behind Drug Abuse   Twenty Years of
Inhalant Abuse Awareness  March 18–24, 2012, marks the 20th
observance of National Inhalants and Poisons Awareness Week. The
good news is that fewer teens are inhaling poisons and chemicals
to get high, according to NIDA’s 2011 Monitoring the Future
study. Use has been declining since about the mid-2000s,
especially among 8th and 11th graders.  Still, even one person
using an inhalant is too many. Here are some facts about
inhalant use that you might not know.  Helium isn’t harmless.
You may have seen people inhale helium out of a balloon at a
party to make their voices sound funny. But doing so can be
dangerous, and in rare cases it can even cause sudden death.
This happened recently to a 14-year-old in Oregon who inhaled
helium out of a tank.    Inhalants can affect speech. Inhalants
rob cells of oxygen, which can harm your brain. Using inhalants
repeatedly can affect the hippocampus—a brain area that helps
control memory—so that a person may l