Inhalants - The Law

The Law

By 1968, according to Brecher in The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, thirteen states had issued laws prohibiting glue sniffing. The city of Anaheim, California, was one of the first places to pass such a law. In 1962, it became illegal in Anaheim to "inhale, breathe, or drink any compound, liquid, chemical, or any substance known as glue … with the intention of becoming intoxicated." In the mid-1960s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) proposed that the sale of certain glues to people under age twenty-one be prohibited.

The more than 1,000 household and industrial substances that can be used as inhalants are legal products. They are not regulated under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. At the start of the twenty-first century, thirty-eight states had enacted laws to address the issues of inhalant use among minors. In various ways, the laws attempt to prevent the sale, use, and distribution of abusable inhalants to consumers under the age of eighteen. In roughly half of the United States, it is illegal to inhale certain compounds for intoxication. Consequences vary from state to state but usually involve fines of several hundred dollars and up to six months in jail.

As of 2005, two inhalant bills were awaiting approval by the Tennessee and Wisconsin legislatures. Ricky and Johnson's Law, named for two Tennessee youths who died from huffing, would provide resources for inhalant education, prevention, and treatment. Aaron's Law, named for a Wisconsin teen, would make it illegal to sell abusable products to youths under eighteen.

The United Kingdom also controls the access of inhalants to its minors. The Intoxicating Substances Act of 1985 made it an offense to supply teens with inhalable products that will be abused. The Cigarette Lighter Refill Regulations of 1999 govern the sale of purified liquefied petroleum gas, mainly butane. This is the substance most often involved in inhalant fatalities in the United Kingdom. The 1999 law made it illegal to sell this type of cigarette lighter refill to anyone under the age of eighteen.