Sniffing out in Luxembourg – Assessing inhalant abuse

In recent months there have been recurrent media reports about inhalant abuse. These spectacular reports often focus on isolated events in which children or teenagers were gravely injured. On the basis of these media reports, it is however extremely difficult to assess the genuine extent of inhalant abuse in the general population, and, concurrently, the need of prevention work.

In the case of inhalant abuse, the relevance of information campaigns is debatable, as the involved substances are widely accessible and can easily be bought by everyone. The well intentioned dissemination of information and hazard warnings can thus easily backfire and, instead of preventing inhalant abuse, turn into a publicity stunt for these products. Before launching widespread information campaigns, we therefore need to carefully assess the extent of the reported practices and to determine the profile of the high risk population.

Consequently, we initiated a nationwide enquiry contacting various professionals in the fields of health and education. For instance, all medical practitioners and all primary school teachers (5th and 6th degrees) of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg were contacted and encouraged to report the occurrences of inhalant abuse they encountered in the last twelve months.

Preliminary results show that inhalant abuse seems to be a rather isolated phenomenon in Luxembourg. These results will be discussed to shed a light on the appropriate prevention strategies to be adopted in this particular situation.