B.8 VOLATILE SUBSTANCES: SOLVENTS AND GASES

There are an uncounted number of readily and legally available volatile substances that can be used to achieve a state of intoxication. Some of the more common intoxicating solvents in everyday use include fast drying glue and cements, paints and lacquers, paint thinners and removers, gasoline and kerosene, lighter fluid, dry cleaning fluid, fingernail polish remover, and many aerosols.

The advertising, sale and importation of these substances are regulated by the Hazardous Products Act and the Hazardous Products (Hazardous Substances) Regulations. This Act and its Regulations require the identification of hazardous products and the alerting of consumers to their possible dangers by "clear", "prominently displayed", "easily legible", and "readily discernible" labelling.

The Hazardous Products Act and its Regulations limit neither the possession of volatile substances nor their use for psychotropic purposes. Consequently, all of the above mentioned substances are legally available to anyone regardless of age or condition. In Alberta, however, the provincial Public Health Act states that "no person shall use any intoxicating vapour to produce intoxication", and provides for the prosecution of persons who induce anyone to use such a product for intoxication or who sell a product for such reason.

In contrast to other psychotropic drugs which are distributed through licit or illicit 'drug dealers', volatile substances are available in a variety of retail outlets (including hobby shops and department stores) and are ordinarily sold for mundane purposes rather than their psychotropic potential. The customary procedure for a person wishing to use a volatile substance is to simply go to a store which sells the desired product and purchase it. Although a Commission field study has uncovered instances of adolescents reselling bottles of nail polish remover for inflated prices to children who are too young to make their own purchases without arousing a retailer's suspicion as to their motives, the purchase of these substances from retail outlets is ordinarily easily accomplished.6 Even if an individual is a known 'sniffer' it is unlikely that he will be refused access to solvents by store vendors. According to another Commission field study, for example, a chronic glue sniffer in Winnipeg has purchased as many as 30 tubes of glue at a time from a retail store without encountering any difficulty.9 In fact, in some Canadian cities store owners have been known to sell 'kits' (containing nail polish remover, a plastic bag and Kleenex®) to recognized solvent users.°

While paint thinner is the most popular solvent in Japan and in the Scandinavian countries, in North America airplane glue and nail polish remover (especially Cutex®) are the solvents most often used for psycho-tropic purposes. Airplane glue is available in hobby stores, in the toy sections of department stores, as well as in many corner stores. Some stores take the precaution of placing the tubes under a counter so that they will not be stolen, but most stores display them openly. A tube of glue can be purchased for between fifteen and twenty cents. A few deep inhalations of the solvent is usually sufficient to render at least a novice user intoxicated, and several individuals can reportedly achieve a desired state of intoxication with one fifteen cent tube (usually containing about 20 c.c. of the glue).4 A chronic user, after extended experience with the substance, may require up to five tubes to achieve intoxication, which obviously increases his cost.4 Lacking money to buy glue, some juveniles simply steal it or steal money with which to purchase it.2

`Testor's' glue was the most popular volatile solvent in Canada prior to 1968. In that year, however, this company added allylisothiocyanate (a volatile oil of mustard) to their glue which rendered it unpalatable to sniffers.3 This led users to switch from Testor's to their competitors, as well as to some of the countless other solvent-containing products in everyday use.

There are other, less readily available products included in the category `volatile substances'. Nitrous oxide and ether (the medical anesthetics) are occasionally used by a small number of individuals to experience a drug effect. Nitrous oxide, or 'laughing gas', can be procured through dentists, and ether can be obtained through physicians and hospital anesthetists. It is also reportedly possible to order and receive cylinders of nitrous oxide without legal risk from some companies that stock this substance.

References

I. Brown, F. The Hazardous Products Act (1969): Legal status, method of enforcement, and apparent effectiveness. Unpublished Commission research project, 1972.
2. Brozovsky, M., & Winkler, E. G. Glue sniffing in children and adolescents. New York State Journal of Medicine, 1965, 65: 1984-1989.
3. Chapman, R. A. (Director General, Food and Drug Directorate, Ottawa). Letter to the Commission, May 10, 1971.
4. Glaser, H. H., Massengale, 0. N., & Denver, M. D. Glue sniffing in children. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1962, 181(4): 90-93.
5. Green, M. Committed users study. Unpublished Commission research project, 1971.
6. Green, M., & Blackwell, J. C. Final monitoring project. Unpublished Commission research paper, 1972.
7. Gregg, M. A note on solvent sniffing in Toronto. Addictions, 1971, 18(4): 39-44.
8. Wallace, P. It's in the bag, baby: Glue sniffing among juvenile delinquents as reported by the users themselves. Paper presented at the Conference of the Continuing Institute on Non-Narcotic Drug Abuse, Southern Illinois University, May 15-20, 1967.
9. Woolfrey, J. Winnipeg report. Sub-study of M. Green, Committed users study. Unpublished Commission research project, 1971.