Warning to Parents: Kids Inhaling Freon to Get High

[FUZO]

TweetWarning to Parents: Kids Inhaling Freon to Get High

Warning to Parents: Kids Inhaling Freon to Get High

Jacob Henry of Wisconsin was an 18-year-old college freshman and part of a loving family when he disappeared from his grandmother's apartment on a Friday afternoon. The following day, after contacting his friends and searching the neighborhood, his parents filed a missing person report.

A few hours later, they found their son's lifeless body next to an air conditioning unit behind his grandmother's apartment building. According to police, the black plastic bag over his head indicated that he died while inhaling freon gas from the air conditioning unit.Freon

Inhaling freon is a dangerous trend that's growing in popularity among U.S. teenagers. Freon is viewed as a cheap and easy way to get high. The effects of inhaling freon resemble alcohol intoxication, but freon is a far more dangerous substance than alcohol. Because freon is a refrigerant, it freezes the lungs when inhaled. Freon inhalation can result in death, even the first time it's used.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports that in 2009 more than 2,000 teenagers were sent to the hospital following freon abuse and at least two died. Following the death of her son, Jacob Henry mother's Gail compared it to a game of Russian roulette.

Freon is one of many substances that teenagers and children abuse by inhaling. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that more than 2 million Americans under age 18 try an inhalant each year, making inhalants the second most popular illicit substance (marijuana is first). Most parents are unaware of the prevalence of inhalant abuse among teenagers and children or that the long-term effects of inhalant abuse include damage to the heart, liver, kidneys, central nervous system and brain.

Teens who abuse freon and other substances usually inhale it by "huffing," which involves a rag which is soaked in the chemical and then held to the face, or by "bagging," which involves a plastic bag that has been filled with vapors being placed over the head. Bagging, which killed Jacob Henry, is the most dangerous form of inhalant abuse since it can cut off the supply of fresh oxygen.

ABC News Los Angeles recently reported that air conditioning repairmen are being called to replace freon in air conditioning units because it is being stolen. Owners of air conditioning units are being urged to have a locking device installed in order to safeguard against freon theft. The device, which costs about $25, can only be installed and opened by air conditioning service personnel.

[Dzone]

TweetOMG thats horrible. Its sad that kids would be so miserable with their life that they would need to do something like this to escape reality.

[alluprbdy]

Tweetsaw tht on the news while I was running on the treadmill, crazy shit.

[mtnmedic]

TweetI suppose just puffin a spliff got to be too much of a chore ?