SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s Patty Bauder and Alison Dunlap came to our library and gave a speech on inhalant abuse. They spoke they spoke to a crowd of 20 people young and old about the type of products to look out for, signs of someone who is abusing, and how you could attack this growing problem in young teens today. The speech included a power point presentation, a show case of products that are commonly used, and an hour long speech. They talked about the 1,400 household products can be used as an inhalant. They made it clear that “inhalants are not drugs because they have legitimate purposes. They have chemicals and poisons in them that can make you high. The problem is kids are using them as if they were a drug, an inhalant is a poison and by using them they are poisoning their minds.” Overall the presentation was a good success because it left people with more knowledge about the growing problem in the United States and in our small town.
Written by: James Hart, Voices Project summer intern.
Program Date: June 28, 2006