Legislature(2003 - 2004)
03/10/2003 01:32 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HCR 8-INHALANTS AND POISONS AWARENESS WEEK
CHAIR FRED DYSON called the Senate Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. and
announced HCR 8 to be up for consideration. Present were
Senators Dyson, Guess and Davis.
REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER, sponsor of HCR 8, explained that this
bill asks the governor to recognize the nationally recognized
inhalant, abuse and poisons awareness week, March 16-22. She
said that inhalant abuse is not a new problem, but it is
reaching rampant proportions throughout Alaska and among youth
across the nation. One of the frustrating things about inhalant
abuse is that the chemical substances used for huffing are not
contraband or illegal. In fact, those substances are useful and
needed for the use they are intended for. Over 1,400 chemical
substances are commonly used as a means of getting high.
REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER said in an informal discussion she had
with the Senate president, he asked if this addiction is a
chemical or psychological one. It is both. The high one gets
from inhalant abuse is very sudden and potent and, because the
absorption is through the lungs, it goes to the vital organs
quicker and penetrates deeper than most highs. Inhalant abuse
affects all of the major organs. A major concern is that the
abusers are very young and inhalant abuse affects their
reproductive organs. She concluded, "So, this is affecting young
generations and generations to come."
CHAIR DYSON asked how it affects reproductive health.
REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER replied that it affects the brain, liver,
lungs, and bone marrow and there is evidence that chronic abuse
of some inhalants causes chromosome and fetal damage. She
thought it could cause birth defects and explained:
A lot of people who abuse inhalants have the same
symptoms as someone with fetal alcohol syndrome. The
way experts can tell the difference between someone
who is a chronic inhalant abuser and an FAS victim is
that a fetal alcohol syndrome person doesn't have many
childhood memories, if any, and someone who is a
chronic inhalant abuser has childhood memories from
before they started using inhalants, but afterwards
they have a very short-term memory.
1:37 p.m.
SENATOR GREEN arrived.
MS. MARTHA MOORE, Intervening Surveillance and Prevention
Program Manager, DHSS, supported HCR 8. She explained that her
office tracks all hospitalized poisonings and has found over the
years that it is a substantial problem with about 525 Alaskans
per year. She said that compares to about 570 motor vehicle
crash victims hospitalized every year. Only 14% of the
poisonings are accidental, the other 86% are suicidal.
MS. MOORE said this resolution addresses the problem of access
to the poison substances from the time children are young up
through the teenage years. She said that a quarter of the
accidental poisonings happen to children under 5 years old.
Since 2001, Alaska has an arrangement with the Oregon Poison
Center, which fields poison calls for Alaska. As a result, she
has information on calls for Alaskan poisonings and has found
that children under 5 years of age are getting into medications.
Thirty years ago the childproof caps made a big difference and
accidental poisonings went way down, but now they are creeping
up again. She thinks it's because people are disabling the caps.
The center received over 400 calls for cosmetic poisoning for
kids under 15 years old.
She said the neat thing about this system is that 75% of the
poison calls that came into the center were handled over the
phone, a huge cost savings.
MS. MOORE also related that the first victim of huffing
poisoning in the hospital registry was a seven-year old girl who
was taught how to do it by older kids. The suicide attempts
start at around 10 years old and as children go through the
teenage years, huffing becomes the predominant reason for
poisoning.
CHAIR DYSON said the governor agrees with what Representative
Kapsner is trying to do.
REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER added that according to a 1999 survey of
eighth graders, 19.5% had used inhalants compared to 22% who had
used marijuana or hashish. Inhalants are often a gateway to the
abuse of other illicit substances; 70% of one group of substance
abusers in treatment indicated that inhalants were their first
drug and 50% of them said they would go back to huffing or
inhaling if they did not have access to alcohol. Because
inhalants enter the lungs in such high concentrations, they have
a much more formidable toxic profile than other types of drugs.
It takes 4 to 6 weeks to detoxify someone before they can go
into the treatment process.
SENATOR DAVIS moved to pass HCR 8 from committee. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
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