Characteristics of Recent Adolescent Inhalant Initiates. The NSDUH Report. Issue 11

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) asks respondents aged 12 or older questions related to their use of inhalants during their lifetime and in the past year. This report focuses on youths aged 12 to 17 who initiated the use of inhalants in the 12 months prior to the survey. All findings presented in this report are annual averages based on combined 2002, 2003, and 2004 NSDUH data. The report indicates that in 2002 to 2004, 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 included glue, shoe polish, or toluene (30.3 percent); gasoline or lighter fluid (24.9 percent); nitrous oxide or "whippets" (24.9 percent); and spray paints (23.4 percent). Among recent inhalant initiates, 19.4 percent used inhalants on 13 or more days in the past year. In 2002 to 2004, 59.7 percent of recent inhalant initiates aged 12 to 17 had used cigarettes prior to using inhalants, 67.6 percent had previously used alcohol, and 42.4 percent had previously used marijuana; 35.9 percent had used all three substances--cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana--before they used inhalants. (Contains 6 endnotes, 2 figures, and 2 tables.)