RAP ON - AN ENCOUNTER ON AEROSOL SNIFFING Weird 1970s Anti-Drug Educational LP Record

The coach asked me if I like to meet with a group to rap about aerosols. So, I figure why not? >> My mother uses gobs of hairspray. I guess I know more about them than anyone. >> Hey, who's supposed to be here? Someone from a company, I bet, to tell us how great they are. >> No, that's something bad. I just know it. They wouldn't take us out of class unless it was bad. Hi, I'm Len Brooks. Thanks for meeting me here. >> I bet you're from the FBI. >> No, not me. I'm just a researcher and I I'd like to talk with you. The aerosol industry sent me because they're worried about a problem. >> Aren't they selling enough of all these aerosols? >> No, it's not that. It's a deadly serious matter. And I think you can help. We're trying to reach young people all over the country. >> Why don't you run a rock festival? Right on. Man, you can get him from all over. >> Wait, let the man talk. He said maybe we could help. What's it all about? >> Well, I'll tell it to you straight. A lot of kids have died trying to get high on aerosols. No, it's true. They inhaled the stuff in concentrated amounts. >> You mean it really kills them? >> You're putting us on. I did and I'm not dead. >> You're lucky. It could happen on the next try. You never know. I've got these case histories right here. Boys, girls, all ages from 11 to 20 from all parts of the country. At home, at a party, in a parking lot, in a field. No one could help them. They were dead in just seconds. Now, these are true cases. They're in police files and written up in newspapers. >> Man, that's scary. >> Yeah, but Tim says he did it. >> Well, I tried it once cuz I heard about it. Was it like pot? >> No, it wasn't like anything else. It gave me a pain in the throat and I lost my voice, so I dropped it. >> Well, that pain in the throat is only one of the effects of aerosol sniffing. Others we know about are severe headaches, dizziness, double vision, unconsciousness, sneezing, coughing and chest pains, and then of course death by asphixxiation, heart arrest or lung damage. And in some cases, lung tissue literally is frozen. >> But what causes this? >> Yeah, after all, you sniff some of the stuff when you use room fresheners. And my dad uses medicine which comes in an aerosol, and it doesn't hurt him. >> You're right. There are many products which are meant to be sprayed into the atmosphere of a room. The little bit you sniff under those conditions isn't going to hurt you. It's safe when used as directed on the label. And some medicinal products are meant to be inhaled, but they are meated for recommended doses, controlling the amount sprayed each time. >> So if somebody uses it wrong, he's in trouble. >> If you misuse it in concentrated amounts, see, it was never intended for that. An aerosol is like a little machine with working parts. These parts are the container, the product, the propellant, and a control valve. Now the propellant drives the product out through the valve at the top when you press the button. By providing the pressure, the propellant acts as a kind of chemical conveyor belt for moving the product out. Now what can hurt you? Concentrated amounts of the spray without air. Now if you've taken chemistry, you know what can happen if you experiment recklessly. You know, just about any common product, even salt, may be harmful if it's misused. >> But what aerosol does it? Like what kind? The thing I've heard is the kind that chills martini glasses. >> Oh, it's just about any aerosol because the same basic elements are in all of them. There are more than 300 types available today, including foods, paints, cosmetics, medicines, and many household items. So, why can't the aerosol companies use different chemicals that won't hurt you? >> Well, you're right. And research is going on. They've even tried the mustard that some companies are putting into glue to make it just too nasty to sniff. But it doesn't work in aerosols. Meanwhile, people need and want those products which are helpful and useful. So, what do you do about the kids who are misusing them and getting themselves killed? Where do you put the responsibility? Sure, a person is doing it to himself, but the thing is that even though it's not the fault of those companies, maybe they want to do something about it. Maybe they can help stop deaths. Right? And that's why I'm here to talk about it, to tell you about the dangers, to discuss it with you and find out why people do this and and see how we can help. >> How do people figure out to start using it? How do people start shooting peanut butter in their veins? Yeah, crunchy peanut butter. >> Maybe scaring people is the right way to do it. Or telling about personal experiences. I think a lot of kids do it because they don't know it's dangerous. >> I think the emotional dangers are just as bad as the physical dangers. >> What do you mean by emotional dangers? >> The hang-ups that make you try it. Like with drugs >> and the fact that you get hooked. >> Yeah, but you don't get hooked on aerosols. You just get dead. Let me tell you what happened to a kid named Jerry. It was fatal for Jerry. And he had just started going steady with his girl. He wasn't an unhappy kid. Didn't have too many problems at school. His parents were busy people, but they found times to be together. Now, we can only really guess the reason. He was with a group of friends. They were doing it. Did he feel they call him chicken if he didn't do it too? Well, he paid a deadly price for a bad choice because he did have a choice. >> I think a lot of people are pushed into it because of reverse psychology. Don't do it, so they do it. >> Yeah, but they call him chicken. If he didn't do it, he could feel out of it. Yes, but you have a choice in a situation and you can choose another thing. It's important to know that you have a choice. That's what I'm saying to realize what the choice is. >> I think a lot of things go on inside the family which are a symptom of what's going on in the country. >> That's why I think kids get involved in these things. They have a lot of feelings that they can't face but they can't deal with. >> They can't handle it, >> right? and instead they get stoned and they don't feel it so much. >> Is that going to solve anything? >> Maybe not, but it stops for a while. >> Yeah, it can stop forever if that's what you want. >> Now listen, maybe it's hard to believe me. I'm an adult. I'm part of the establishment. I've never sniffed aerosols, but I do know what's happened and what can happen. I'd like you to listen to this record. It's from a taped interview with a kid in Pittsburgh. He did it. He lived, but his friend died. >> I mean, you don't do it for the thing of feeling good. Uh, it is more or less an escape cuz you you're totally detached from your body. I mean, it feels like just your mind is, you know, you no longer have any body. Just your mind is doing everything. You can't feel anything. just uh an awareness yet uh you feel like a camera, you know, you're just taking everything in and you have no power to do anything about it cuz the night that the kid died, I remember I was under I just come out and he was like gasping for air and I looked at him and I didn't, you know, I just I knew he was gasping and everything but I didn't know what he was gasping about, what was going on. I just saw him there. You know, it was like computer just taking things in, you know, I couldn't think. And when I finally uh it only lasts for a little while, you know, for a couple of minutes and then I realized what happened, you know, and I went over to see where he was dead then. It's a bummer, you know. I mean, there's nothing really to it, you know. Uh you could die, you know. I mean, if you want to die, you know, go ahead, do it, you know. I mean, but uh if you want to live, you know, don't do it. >> I think that's important. Someone who can tell you from personal experience, this is the only way you're going to get anything done in life. You have to confront the problem. Then you know what the choice is and you make your own choice.