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The Truth About Inhalants

3.6 Read the booklet

Read: Are Inhalants Legal?

ARE INHALANTS LEGAL?

“I actually found myself talking to what I call ‘gas buddies’ (the hallucinations). One day I was huffing and I thought my friend died because the hallucination of him came to me. “I found myself huffing not only for the visuals, but for the company of these imaginary ‘friends’ that would come to me when I would start to huff. I have been struggling with this addiction for about seven months now.” —Erin
“I actually found myself talking to what I call ‘gas buddies’ (the hallucinations). One day I was huffing and I thought my friend died because the hallucination of him came to me.

“I found myself huffing not only for the visuals, but for the company of these imaginary ‘friends’ that would come to me when I would start to huff. I have been struggling with this addiction for about seven months now.” —Erin

Although inhalants are not regulated under the Controlled Substances Act, thirty-eight states in the US have placed restrictions on the sale and distribution to minors of certain products that are commonly abused as inhalants. Some states have introduced fines, incarceration or mandatory treatment for the sale, distribution, use and/or possession of inhalant chemicals.

Laws also exist in some US states prohibiting the recreational inhalation of nitrous oxide.

Some communities in Western Australia and South Australia have passed local laws making petrol sniffing an offense. In Victoria and Western Australia, police are allowed to search a person who is reasonably believed to be in possession of an inhalant and confiscate it.

In England and Wales, it is illegal for retailers to sell volatile substances to anyone under the age of eighteen if there is reason to believe they will use it for inhalation and intoxication purposes.