Report highlights solvent abuse in children

Children as young as 10 are inhaling solvents on a regular basis, a new report has claimed.

A joint report by children’s charities the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and ChildLine found that children were often using the substances in order to cope with severe traumas, as well as deal with emotional and mental health problems, and not just simply to ‘get high’.

The report, which analysed over 350 calls made to ChildLine regarding volatile substance abuse (VSA), uncovered a number of alarming cases. These included a girl who said she sniffed nail varnish, in order to cope with parental abuse and a boy who told the helpline that he was ‘buzzing’ deodorant in an attempt to ‘fit in’.

ChildLine chief executive Carole Easton said: “The accounts of children who call ChildLine about VSA are difficult and painful to read. It is crucial that we face up to the fact that children are abusing volatile substances to escape the pain their lives are causing them.”

According to ChildLine, children often felt “scared and ashamed” of their solvent abuse, which often lead to them using the products on their own. The charity warned that this increased the danger of dying from misusing the product, as there would then be no one around to help the user.

The charities said that the accessibility of products such as glue, paint, correcting fluid and nail varnish in homes across the country, meant that VSA often began at an early age and children were constantly able to find new products to abuse.

The report also indicated that children in care or in young offenders’ institutes were often “particularly vulnerable” to VSA.

The UK has the highest level of solvent misuse in the EU, with 15% of 15-16-year-old admitting to have tried it.

NCB and ChildLine are calling for a range of measures to be introduced to help tackle the problem. These include introducing legislation to minimise the quantity of dangerous solvents in products; providing emotional help for vulnerable children and young people; and introducing education on VSA in drug education classes, as well as for parents and carers.

Report author Simon Blake, assistant director of children’s development at NCB, said: “In the 1980s everyone knew about the problem of glue sniffing but over the last 20 years it has slowly slipped from public view and has been forgotten. Yet VSA continues to cause death and harm to many. With children playing Russian roulette with their lives it is no longer tenable to ignore VSA.”

(KMcA)