Household Substances Which Cause Drug-Like Effects

Have you ever looked into your kitchen supply and cleaning agents? These are artificial substances, created from manufactured chemicals to do a certain purpose, which could be to clean, to disinfect, or for whatever purpose it was made. But could any of this stuff be addictive? You may find the answer surprising.

Too much of anything is bad and that you could be addicted even to something commonly found in your household that you use in your daily life.

Most of the household items that you own that could cause addiction do so through inhalation. Chemicals used from anything like aerosols or cleaning agents to solvent glue can be used to intoxicate the user and become an addictive substance.

The chemicals found in these substances create different effects on the user. Some materials cause intoxication of the user, much like the effect of alcohol on the body. Another would be to alter perceptions or even to cause hallucinations. Substance abuse is dangerous to the body, and may even cause death when exposed to enough material at a single time.

If you've noticed strong odors from smelling chemical-based cleaning agents, then you probably also noticed that most often these odors are very strong even in small amounts. There are people that have discovered the effects of purposely exposing themselves to these chemicals, and inhale the vapor to achieve a high from these materials.

Solvent-based glue is a good example of a strong chemical that has an effect on the body. Even nail polish is a solvent, though this product is commonly available and completely legal. Acetone is a common ingredient found in these solvents, and it is this substance that creates the effects on the body. Another would be propellant found in pressurized spray cans and other aerosol products. Nitrous oxide is the main ingredient in this case, and has an effect much like the stuff that your dentist uses to make you drowsy, because it is the same material.

A common method of intake of these addictive chemicals is bagging, which involves spraying or otherwise putting the chemicals in a plastic bag and inhaling the vapors emanating from the chemical trapped in the bag. A variation of this would be to spray chemicals in a rag, and breath with the rag over the mouth and nose. Another way would be to spray the substance in the air, and inhaling directly, or even as extreme as spraying chemicals directly into the mouth. For solvents, aside from inhaling it is drinking the solvent with alcohol.

Because these chemicals arrive almost immediately to the brain, their effect is fast, and only a small amount is required to achieve intoxication. This causes neurological damage because these materials eat away at the brain's tissues, crippling the physical makeup of the brain.

The mind is also affected in that it could lead to changes in perception ability, mental capacity, and intellectual instability. All of these effects are long term and are mostly permanent, because most damage to the brain cannot be undone. An overdose is also easy to achieve and deadlier than most drugs because it may induce comas or even cause death of the user.

There are ways to tell if a person is a user of inhalants or solvents. These are strong chemicals, so use of these would result in a strong chemical odor lingering from the person, and smelling like the chemicals that he or she inhales, such as cleaning agents. Disorientation is also common, along with personality changes that result from the brain being affected by chemical substances.

An abnormal amount of the material used by the person could also be a sign of inhalant abuse. If this is so, then you might be seeing firsthand a person abusing these materials. You should help yourself and that person by notifying the proper authorities before substantial damage is done and the person having an addiction becomes dangerous.