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Characteristics of Recent Adolescent Inhalant Initiates

The NSDUH Report:  Characteristics of Recent Adolescent Inhalant Initiates

Highlights:

  • In SAMHSA's 2002 to 2004 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health, an average of 598,000 youths aged 12 to 17 per year reported that they initiated inhalant use in the 12 months prior to being surveyed.
  • The types of inhalants most frequently mentioned as having been used by recent initiates were: glue, shoe polish, or toluene (30.3%), gasoline or lighter fluid (24.9%), nitrous oxide or "whippets" (24.9%), and spray paints (23.4%).
  • Among recent inhalants initiates, 19.4% used inhalants on 13 or more days in the past year.
  • In 2002 to 2004, 59.7% of recent inhalant initiates aged 12 to 17 had used cigarettes prior to using inhalants, 67.6% had previously used alcohol, and 42.4% had previously used marijuana, 35.9% had used all three substances (cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) before they used inhalants.

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This Short Report, The NSDUH Report:  Characteristics of Recent Adolescent Inhalant Initiates,  is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse and for selected mental health measures in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health also provides estimates for drug use and for selected mental health measures by State.

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This page was last updated on March 16, 2009.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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