• USA New York prohibits the sale of cans of whipped cream to those under 21 so that they do not get high with the gas

  • Events A 16-year-old girl dies after inhaling gas from a lighter recharge in a town in Toledo

The alarms went off again this past Friday, September 30, when a 16-year-old girl from the town of Corral del Almaguer (Toledo) died after inhaling isobutane gas.

One of those present reported that they were at the end of class refilling their lighters: "Then I saw her, that she was inhaling one of them through her mouth. Then she got up, started walking.

She was short of breath

. Then He fell and hit the ground," he said.

According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, "inhalants" are a group of

volatile substances that produce chemical vapors

that can be inhaled to cause psychoactive or mind-altering effects.

Among them we find volatile solvents, aerosols, gases and nitrites.

The truth is that this group of substances for recreational use such as glue, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide or volatile substances from liquid correction or varnishes are

used above all by young people

.

These gases "high" when inhaled and even generate a feeling of euphoria, disinhibition or distortion of reality, highlights the coordinator of the Toxicology group of the Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine (SEMES), Guillermo Burillo.

According to the

latest

E

Survey on drug use in secondary education in Spain

(Estudes).

Although there is a decrease in this percentage compared to previous decades, the figure has doubled since 2014. The situation does not seem alarming, but it does show an upturn in this type of practice.

This year the death of a 26-year-old Swedish citizen in Marbella came to light after causing pulmonary edema by consuming the so-called "laughing gas", and two other young people suffered serious accidents in the same town after mixing their consumption with that of large amounts of alcohol.

On the other hand, chlorethyl, a spray analgesic used in sports medicine, saw its consumption increase in Valencian towns such as Xàtiva or Canals.

This is normally sprayed on clothing and inhaled, producing a euphoric effect.

What effects are achieved by inhaling the gas from the lighters?

Sensation of fatigue, temporary loss of vision, behavioral disorders, nausea, vomiting, motor coordination disorders or hallucinations are some of the effects produced by the inhalation of this group of volatile substances, according to Burillo.

"

While the practice is carried out, oxygen is displaced and hypoxia occurs

, that is, a lack of oxygen supply in the body that can lead to cardiac arrest in the worst case scenario", adds the SEMES doctor.

In all these events we are faced with the incorrect use of products intended for other uses and that can be obtained legally in pharmacies, parapharmacies, through the internet or in tobacconists.

All of them can present an

important attraction for people with limited resources or lack of knowledge and experience

, due to their ease of access, their low prices and their intense and immediate effects.

"In principle, the effect occurs immediately, but it doesn't last long because as soon as you withdraw from the propellant, that is, from the gas, the ambient oxygen does its job immediately," says Burillo.

The event of the teenager from Corral de Almanaguer only represents the latest case in a series of practices that occur cyclically and whose precedents can be easily traced in European or American countries.

Thus, this practice has been reported insistently in recent years in the United States.

On August 30, the law that prohibits the sale of cans of whipped cream to those under 21 years of age came into force throughout the state of New York.

The reason: to prevent teenagers from inhaling the nitrogen oxide contained in the vials.

The practice, being performed on a recurring basis, causes low blood pressure, fainting, memory loss and even psychosis.

Countries such as Argentina or Chile have recorded the death of adolescents from these causes since at least 2011. "In Spain, we do not usually see this particular practice, at least in hospital emergencies. Although

we only see the tip of the iceberg

because when They call 112, which usually administers oxygen in situ without the need to bring them to the hospital.

The gas does not leave a trace

in the blood either, it is only in the respiratory tree at the time of inhalation," concludes Guillermo Burillo.

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