COMMON household items such as paint and cleaning chemicals could be added to the list of narcotics and psychotropic drugs in a bid to fight addiction among youngsters.
A bold parliamentary proposal aims to amend the 2007 Drugs and Narcotics Law that protects individuals – especially the youth – from using those substances.
Dr Abdulraheem
MP Dr Masooma Abdulraheem, who is spearheading the proposal, said inhaling or sniffing volatile substances such as paint and cleaning chemicals can have lethal consequences.
“There are deadly consequences to inhaling volatile substances present in common household items such as glue, paint and cleaners and others which are easily accessible to children and teenagers,” she said in the written proposal.
“The substance is sprayed inside a plastic bag and inhaled or a towel is dipped into the substance.
“It is then sniffed, resulting in immediate toxicity such as dizziness, sleepiness and confusion in addition to speech impairment.”
The parliamentarian said users may also have difficulty standing up and walking while also experiencing impulsiveness and going into a frenzy.
“These toxic effects could last from a few minutes to an hour and they also include mood swings, a lack of balance and weakened cognitive abilities.”
According to Dr Abdulraheem, an overdose of these volatile materials turns them into toxic substances in the body such as dichlormethane – which is present in paint removers – which can turn into poisonous carbon monoxide.
The cleaning spray Stop is popular among teenagers to get high
She also highlighted that inhaling methanol creates secondary toxic substances which lead to the acidification of blood, and eye problems.
“Sudden death could also result from inhaling these substances for the first time as it causes slow and shallow breathing and cardiac arrhythmia,” she added.
“We must not forget the chronic damages which could be caused by the long-term use of such substances like brain damage and damage to the nerves surrounding vital organs in addition to a weakening of bone marrow and damage to the blood.”
She stated that all these dangerous impacts were the driving force behind proposing the bold amendments.
A list of around 38 volatile substances – including butane, propane, petrol and chloroform – was added to the proposed amendments.
The proposal was submitted to Parliament Speaker Fouzia Zainal in writing and will be discussed in the chamber’s upcoming legislative term which commences in October.
The GDN has previously reported about the alarming trend among young people of sniffing chemical products, specifically Stop spray.
In 2017, a Bahraini stabbed his father to death after sniffing cleaning products.
An 18-year-old, from Sudan, was also stabbed to death in January 2018 during an argument with friends while sniffing aerosol cans in Hoora.
Anti-drug efforts from January to the end of May included the discovery of 343 cases and confiscation of around 254kg of hashish, heroin and marijuana and are amounts of different psychotropic substances.
reem@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))