Getting high from lighter gas: a dangerous new trend

The relatively frequent risk behaviors on the part of the youngest have always been a characteristic of this age group. Adolescents and young adults, in general, show a greater tendency to underestimate the danger of the consequences of their actions, although this does not mean that in the family context you have to adopt a very protective attitude in all cases.

However, when we add to this that the rapid technological progress produced in the last two centuries exposes adolescents to risks new ones on which there are still no prevention strategies on the part of society, this becomes a problem especially significant.

In this sense, today we are witnessing more and more frequently the emergence of new ways of consuming drugs for recreational purposes carried out by both adolescents and young people in general; these are forms of substance abuse so “out of the system” that sometimes they are not even seen as drug use by those who resort to it. We are talking about practices such as getting high with the gas from objects such as lighters or cream sprays, elements that are also common in every home and, therefore, are very easily accessible. In this article we will talk about this new phenomenon.

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What is the inhalation of burner gas?

Times change, and with them, the ways that young people have to avoid the restrictions created to reduce exposure to substance addictions also evolve. As time goes by, new ideas are emerging that allow us to end up in a dynamic of substance abuse without having to commit very clear illegalities, associated with the sale of psychoactive substances such as cocaine, heroin, MDMA...

One of these new modes of substance use consists of inhaling the gas from lighters, a mode of use that is gradually spreading in our country and in neighboring countries and that is seriously affecting the health of the most youths.

In fact, the inhalation of cigarette lighter gas has left us terrible news about sudden deaths of boys and girls who consume the gas that is extracted from the lighters to “get high” being at a party, without even having to search for suppliers of illegal substances.

This gas is known as "isobutane" or "blue gas" due to its characteristic color and is used throughout the world as a recreational drug along with other grouped under the category of inhalants, volatile substances that when inhaled cause psychoactive effects in the person who consumes them by entering the road aerial.

The isobutane gas that some young people inhale on their party nights is not only obtained from lighters; also lighter rechargers with a capacity of about 300 ml are sold individually in tobacconists or other specialized stores, and that are available to people of all ages without the need to show the document of identity.

The fact that this type of object can also be sold to minors makes it a public health problem It also affects young adolescents and preadolescents, in which case the effect of consumption is even more dangerous to health.

To these new uses and abuses of drugs must be added the viral challenges of the Internet that may be related to drug use; Social networks often do not have the ability to detect these posts in time before deleting them before thousands of people have seen them.

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Effects of inhaling this gas

As indicated, the main goal of people who inhale gas from lighters is to get “high”, since most of this type of inhalant substances generate in the consumer an effect of euphoria, disinhibition, alteration of perception and distortion of reality.

According to the latest Survey on drug use in secondary schools in Spain in 2021, they claimed to have used 1.8% of Spanish secondary school students between the ages of 14 and 18 use this type of substance at some time in their lives years; and the average age of initiation of consumption is 15 years.

This means that it is a practice often started by younger and younger youth., whose negative effects on the health of the consumer can be serious and variable depending on the characteristics of each person.

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Health risks

The main effects and risks of the consumption of isobutane gas obtained by a lighter can be from fatigue nausea or vomiting and hallucinations, to temporary loss of vision and disturbances of conduct.

In more serious cases, the main effect on the body is hypoxia or loss of oxygen in the blood and in the main organs of the body, which sometimes can precipitate cardiac arrest and, consequently, the death of the person.

The use of inhalant substances is varied and diverse, as has been commented, and there are many new products that young people find in daily life to achieve altered states of consciousness for playful purposes.

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Diversification of drug use

This can be considered an evolution of other similar practices based on the abuse of volatile drugs that became popular decades ago, especially by adolescents from the lower classes or even in situations of complete marginality: inhaling glue gas, nitrites, hydrocarbons, or varnishes. Any substance that can produce chemical vapors with psychoactive effects and that do not cause immediate death is likely to end up giving rise to drug use.

In addition to inhaling the gas from the lighters, in recent years the use of other easily obtained objects has also become popular, such as, for example, inhalation of gases found in cream sprays, which have a product similar to isobutane gas.