Alcoholic Whipped Cream CaliforniaBrain damage is typically seen with chronic long term use of solvents as opposed to short term exposure. Even though many inhalants are legal, there have been legal actions taken in some jurisdictions to limit access by minors. While solvent glue is normally a legal product, a Scottish court has ruled that supplying glue to children is illegal if the store knows the children intend to abuse the glue. In the US, thirty eight of 5. Classificationedit. Brittany Roberts, a high school sophomore, reads a speech about another teenagers tragic huffing experience to fellow students as part of a Consolidated Substance Abuse Counsel Center presentation on the abuse of inhalants. Inhalants can be classified by the intended function. Most inhalant drugs that are used non medically are ingredients in household or industrial chemical products that are not intended to be concentrated and inhaled. A small number of recreational inhalant drugs are pharmaceutical products that are used illicitly. Product categoryeditAnother way to categorize inhalants is by their product category. There are three main product categories solvents gases and medical drugs which are used illicitly. Solventsedit. A range of petroleum based products that can be abused as inhalants. A wide range of volatile solvents intended for household or industrial use are inhaled as recreational drugs. This includes petroleum products gasoline and kerosene, toluene used in paint thinner, contact cement and model glue, and acetone used in nail polish remover. These solvents vapourize at room temperature. Ethanol the alcohol which is normally drunk is sometimes inhaled, but this cannot be done at room temperature. The ethanol must be converted from liquid into gaseous state vapor or aerosol mist,8 in some cases using a nebulizer, a machine that agitates the liquid into an aerosol. The sale of nebulizers for inhaling ethanol was banned in some US states due to safety concerns. Nitrous oxide whippets are small aerosol containers designed for charging whipped cream dispensers. A number of gases intended for household or industrial use are inhaled as recreational drugs. This includes chlorofluorocarbons used in aerosols and propellants e. A gas used as a propellant in whipped cream aerosol containers, nitrous oxide, is used as a recreational drug. Pressurized canisters of propane and butane gas, both of which are intended for use as fuels, are used as inhalants. Medical anestheticseditSeveral medical anesthetics are used as recreational drugs, including diethyl ether a drug that is no longer used medically, due to its high flammability and the development of safer alternatives and nitrous oxide, which is widely used in the 2. Diethyl ether has a long history of use as a recreational drug. The effects of ether intoxication are similar to those of alcohol intoxication, but more potent. Also, due to NMDA antagonism, the user may experience all the psychedelic effects present in classical dissociatives such as ketamine in forms of thought loops and feeling of mind being disconnected from ones body. Nitrous oxide is a dental anesthetic which is used as a recreational drug, either by users who have access to medical grade gas canisters e. Nitrous oxide inhalation can cause pain relief, depersonalisation, derealisation, dizziness, euphoria, and some sound distortion. Classification by effecteditIt is also possible to classify inhalants by the effect they have on the body. Solvents such as toluene and gasoline act as depressants, causing users to feel relaxed and sleepy. Many inhalants act primarily as asphyxiant gases, with their primary effect due to oxygen deprivation. Nitrous oxide can be categorized as a psychedelic drug, as it can cause visual and auditory hallucinations. Other agents may have more direct effects at receptors, as inhalants exhibit a variety of mechanisms of action. The mechanisms of action of many non medical inhalants have not been well elucidated. Anesthetic gases used for surgery, such as nitrous oxide or enflurane, are believed to induce anesthesia primarily by acting as NMDA receptor antagonists, open channel blockers that bind to the inside of the calcium channels on the outer surface of the neuron, and provide high levels of NMDA receptor blockade for a short period of time. This makes inhaled anesthetic gases different from other NMDA antagonists, such as ketamine, which bind to a regulatory site on the NMDA sensitive calcium transporter complex and provide slightly lower levels of NMDA blockade, but for a longer and much more predictable duration. This makes a deeper level of anesthesia achievable more easily using anesthetic gases but can also make them more dangerous than other drugs used for this purpose. Contact cement, a fast drying glue, is widely used as an inhalant, as it typically contains solvents such as toluene which vapourize at room temperature. Chemical structureeditInhalants can also be classified by chemical structure. Classes include Category. ICD 1. 0Examples. Example imagealiphatic hydrocarbons. T5. 2. 0petroleum products gasoline and kerosene, propane, butanearomatic hydrocarbons. T5. 2. 1 T5. 2. 2toluene used in paint thinner and model glue, xyleneketones. T5. 2. 4acetone used in nail polish removerhaloalkanes.