April 19, 2013 at 5:26 p.m.
Recent incidents involving Rhinelander man shed light on dangers of 'huffing'
Recent incidents involving Rhinelander man shed light on dangers of 'huffing'
By By: Kyle Rogers-
It's a dangerous practice that is potentially deadly, but in Wisconsin it has only been outlawed by an official state statute since 2005. Municipal ordinances, including one in Rhinelander, preceded the statewide legislation slightly.
"It's prevalent but people don't get caught. It's very hidden I think, the use that's out there," said Sgt. Kurt Helke of the Rhinelander Police Department, who spearheaded the effort to get a "huffing" ordinance put on the books in Rhinelander in 2004 and was involved in getting the statewide legislation passed a year later.
That's why Taulbut's case is an opportunity to shed light on the dangers of "huffing" as well as changes that could be made to ensure the courts have adequate tools to help deal with the issue.
According to court records, Taulbut, 34, was arrested Wednesday after he was found passed out with an aerosol can in his hand in the bathroom of the Rhinelander Walmart.
The arrest came only one day after Taulbut was sentenced to one year of probation after he entered a no contest plea to one count of intentionally abusing a hazardous substance charged against him back in January. In that case, a Rhinelander police officer found Taulbut on a weekday afternoon slumped over and convulsing in the driver's seat of his car with an aerosol can of dust remover still pressed up to his nose. The vehicle had crossed the oncoming traffic lane and was resting in a snow bank on Baird Avenue.
Later, after receiving medical treatment, Taulbut told officers he had just purchased the dust remover and was inhaling the fumes while driving.
Since the substance Taulbut was "huffing" is not covered under Wisconsin's operating while intoxicated laws, prosecutors were unable to charge him with an OWI, which would have been his fourth such offense and a felony. Instead, they could only charge the misdemeanor count of intentionally abusing a hazardous substance.
"It's a legal loophole," Helke said.
There is movement toward closing that loophole though. A bill was introduced last month that calls for broadening the OWI definition of "intoxicant" to include substances that are consumed contrary to their intended use (i.e. inhaling the fumes from an aerosol can).
"They still have to get it on the books, but it's at the Capitol where it needs to be," Helke said.
Following the state statute established in 2005, a change in the OWI laws would be yet another legal tool law enforcement and the judicial system could use to combat "huffing." But it's more than just a practice that needs to be criminalized. It's a serious health issue, said Capt. Ron Lueneburg of the Rhinelander Police Department.
In 1993, a decade before Sgt. Helke worked to get "huffing" laws put on the books in Rhinelander as well as the state level, Lueneburg recalls there was an incident where a group of teens gathered on the rooftop of a Brown Street storefront and sniffed the fumes from Glade air freshener cans out of plastic bags. One of the teens, a 14-year-old male, died. Lueneburg said emergency officials received a call about the 14-year-old being unconscious and when medics arrived on scene they were unable to revive him.
"It needs to be stressed, one time and you could die," Lueneburg said.
"It's literally playing Russian roulette, taking a whiff of this stuff," Helke added.
In a more recent incident, a 14-year-old girl in California died last month after "huffing" the contents of an aerosol can. According to media reports, the girl was home alone at the time and died of cardiac arrest. Her parents said they believed it was her first time "huffing."
Helke noted that beefing up laws surrounding "huffing" helps with incidents involving adults. But because the source of the practice is in common items that can be found in the home or easily purchased at the store by a person of any age, the potential dangers have to be especially emphasized to juveniles.
That easy accessibility to "huffing" substances is why Helke said he thinks the practice is likely more prevalent than what law enforcement actually sees.
"It's a wider age range (that is involved in "huffing") because people can easily get things like cleaning chemicals," Helke said.
According to inhalant.org, an advocacy site run by the Alliance for Consumer Education, nationwide more than 2.6 million children ages 12 to 17 use an inhalant each year to get high. The organization also reports that 25 percent of students have intentionally abused a common household product to get high by the time they reach eighth grade. The exact number of lives claimed by the practice of "huffing" is unclear since such deaths are often attributed to other causes.
"The brain tissue actually dissolves," Helke said of some of the information he learned nine years ago when he started doing further research on "huffing."
That's one of the long-term effects of "huffing." Short-term effects are similar to the symptoms from drinking alcohol. However, because the inhaled chemicals are quickly absorbed by the body, intoxication is experienced almost immediately. It also only lasts a few minutes, which is why users often prolong the "high" by continuing to inhale repeatedly, according to inhalant.org.
Then there's the fact that a person can instantly die from a single incident of "huffing." According to inhalant.org, that sudden death is usually associated with cardiac arrest. The inhalant causes the heart to beat rapidly and erratically which results in the cardiac arrest.
Lueneburg said from a law enforcement standpoint, the response to a "huffing" incident can vary depending on the circumstances. He said the primary concern is the person's well-being so it's important to notify medics immediately. Laws criminalizing "huffing" provide another tool that can be used to address a situation.
"We really had no mechanism where we could cite people for it," Lueneburg said of 20 years ago when the 14-year-old boy died from "huffing."
He said having laws on the books at least provides a way for officers to deal with an incident immediately. Two decades ago, a possible way to handle an inhalant abuser would have been ordering a "protective placement" because the person could be considered a danger to themselves. However, that is not always easy to enforce, Lueneburg said.
"He's not a big criminal," Lueneburg said of the recent "huffing" incidents involving Taulbut. "You've got someone with issues who needs help. (Having laws) allows us to be able to deal with it right away and at least take someone into custody. It's a problem. It's out there in the public. Our ultimate goal is some sort of intervention whether that's medical or legal."
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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