Over-the-counter hell

Pharmacist joins fight against solvent abuse

By JOYANNE PURSAGA, STAFF REPORTER

It was a high that led to the lowest point of his life.

Albert Ratt started inhaling rubber cement at age 29.

By 30, he was living on the streets of Winnipeg, panhandling for money and sleeping on riverbanks, in factories and beneath underpasses.

Ratt, who first sniffed gas when he was eight years old, said he used inhalants to escape reality.

HOOKED

"It came to the point where alcohol and drugs just weren't enough," said Ratt yesterday. "(With solvents) you get a quick high in five or 10 seconds, almost immediately."

In less than a month, he was hooked, sniffing solvents on a daily basis.

After losing three friends to solvent abuse, Ratt finally kicked the habit in 1989.

But he still bears the scars of his former drug use, including an irregular heartbeat, learning difficulties, and stomach damage.

As a member of the Non-Potable Alcohol and Inhalant Abuse Committee, he spoke about his former addiction to media gathered at Broadway Pharmacy yesterday. The pharmacy's owner spoke abut the issue during the Manitoba Pharmacy Conference at the Clarion Hotel, which wraps up today.

More than 1,400 products can be abused as inhalants, including glue, nail polish remover, gasoline, paint thinner and cleaning products, according to the committee.

Some have an alcohol volume of up to 90%.

Due to the poisonous nature of these substances, sniffing can kill in a single dose. It's considered most dangerous to youth, who are vulnerable to its cheap, accessible high.

In 2004, 3% of Manitoba high school students reported trying inhalants during the past year, according to the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba. And one in five American children will use an inhalant by Grade 8, according to the U.S. National Inhalant Prevention Coalition.

Larry Leroux, chair of Manitoba's alcohol and inhalant committee, revamped his West Broadway pharmacy to combat sniffing and is urging others to do the same.

His former client died after sniffing destroyed her kidney.

"This is very personal," said Leroux. "We saw a lot of people coming through the store getting solvents and having trouble controlling it."

Chronic sniffing can cause brain, organ and blood damage, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Leroux wants stricter laws to punish those who mark up the price of inhalants to profit off addiction, better access to treatment programs and tougher controls on inhalant sales to combat the abuse.

During the conference, he plans to teach pharmacists how to "sniff-proof" their stores by moving products containing ingredients sniffers use to select solvents behind the counter.
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