Volatile Substance Use

Amity offers free information sessions and resources for managing volatile substance use.

What is Volatile Substance Use?

Volatile Substance Use (VSU) refers to the intentional inhalation of household or industrial products to achieve a psychoactive effect. Often easily accessible and inexpensive, these substances are sometimes used for their intoxicating effects.

VSU is also known as:

  • Inhaling
  • Sniffing
  • Chroming
  • Bagging
  • Huffing
  • *Volatile Substance Misuse (VSM)
  • *Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA)


*These terms are not recommended due to the stigma attached to language such as 'abuse' and 'misuse'.

Frequently Inhaled Chemicals:

  • Acetone
  • Benzene
  • Nitrous Oxide       
  • Butane                     
  • Propane     
  • Xylene
  • Toluene


These are chemicals typically found in volatile substances and can produce psychoactive effects when inhaled.

Warning: VSU can cause Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome (SSDS)

When volatile substance chemicals are inhaled and immediately followed with physical activity, the heart becomes highly sensitive, which can cause cardiac arrest and possibly death.

It is risky to chase or restrain someone who has just inhaled volatile substances.

Community responses


High levels of VSU can occur within communities, including local suburbs, towns or regions. When an area experiences more people engaging in VSU a coordinated multi-agency community response becomes necessary. The agencies involved in the response may vary by location but often include:


  • Youth services
  • Alcohol and other drug services
  • Child protection services
  • Family support services
  • Housing and residential care services
  • Youth justice
  • Police
  • Ambulance
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and community services
  • Justice groups
  • Elders
  • Local government
  • Retailers including petrol stations and shops that stock inhalable products


Coordinated community responses typically involve a combination of strategies focussed on supply reduction, demand reduction and harm reduction. These are commonly referred to as the three pillars of harm minimisation. Implementing interventions across all three pillars at once offers the best opportunity for a community to successfully address an outbreak of inhalant use.

Credits to: www.alpa.asn.au

Credits to: insight.qld.edu.au

Volatile substance use

External Resources

Dovetail

Dovetail are specialist providers of alcohol and other drug training, education, practice advice and resources for workers and services in Queensland. 


Online Toolkits (Inhalants)

Resources on inhalant use - PDF

CAYLUS

A key function of CAYLUS is working with young people, organisations, community leaders and service agencies in communities where volatile substance use (sniffing) is an concern.


Talking about Sniffing

Harm Reduction

Menzies School of Research

Menzies is one of Australia's leading medical research institutes dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 


Sniffing and the Brain

When Boys and Men Sniff

When Girls and Women Sniff

For more information or to book an information session on Volatile Substance Use, please contact Amity on 08 8944 6565 or email Habitwise at habitwise@amity.org,au



Call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 to report Volatile Substance Use.

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