Fifth Grade
Worksheets
The Truth About Inhalants
Sniffing. Huffing. They mean the same thing - inhalant abuse. There are thousands of everyday products that can be abused by sniffing their vapors. Most people have probably inhaled them at one time or another accidentally during their everyday lives.
Things like gasoline, glue, and cleaning products all give off fumes. When these fumes are trapped in a small space and inhaled on purpose, they can make a person feel high. This is inhalant abuse. This is dangerous. You can become sick or injured. You can harm your brain. You can even die.
Cathy tried sniffing one day with her friends. All of a sudden, Cathy began to vomit. Her body was trying to get rid of the poison she was putting into it. She couldn't stop vomiting. She passed out. One of Cathy's friends got scared and called her older brother. He came quickly. Thankfully, he knew enough to roll Cathy over on her side. She could have choked on her own vomit and died.
Cathy was back up again shortly. "I felt horrible. Every muscle in my body hurt. My throat and lips were so sore. But I am alive. When I think of what could have happened, I can't believe I was so dumb to do that to my body. My friends and I learned a lesson that night, the hard way," Cathy says.
Joe was huffing in a garage one night. He was inhaling gasoline vapor. A friend lit a cigarette. Suddenly the vapors caught fire. Joe's face and neck were badly burned. His friend's hands were also burned. Things could have been worse. The whole garage could have caught fire. Joe and his friend could have been killed.
