Inhalant and Solvent Abuse Among Youth in Pakistan: A Crisis Hiding in Ordinary Products

Of everything we treat at Federal City Rehab Clinic, inhalant abuse is the one that most consistently catches families off guard, because nothing about it looks like a drug problem from the outside. There is no white powder, no pills, no needle marks. There is a tube of adhesive, a can of paint thinner, a bottle of nail polish remover, products sitting in the same cupboard as every other household in the country. That ordinariness is not incidental. It is the entire reason this remains one of the least discussed and most dangerous patterns of substance use I see.

Reporting by Dawn has documented this most visibly among Pakistan’s street children, describing glue sniffing, most often involving a widely available adhesive brand, as affecting the overwhelming majority of children in some urban street populations, driven simply by cost and accessibility compared to any illegal drug. But I want to be clear about something from the outset. This is not only a street children’s issue. It happens across every economic background, in homes that look nothing like what most people picture when they hear the word addiction, wherever a young person has access to these products and a reason to want to escape something.

Why the Same Product on Every Shelf Can Be So Dangerous

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the products involved include spray paints, glues, cleaning fluids, and other solvents that release chemical vapours with genuine mind-altering effects when inhaled, even though almost none of them were manufactured with that in mind. They act primarily on the central nervous system, slowing brain activity in a way that produces effects similar to alcohol intoxication in the short term. Because that high fades within minutes, a pattern of repeated inhalation over hours is common, which is precisely what makes the physical risks compound so quickly.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders recognises this pattern clinically as Inhalant Use Disorder, defined simply as a problematic pattern of use of these substances leading to real distress or impairment in a person’s life. What makes inhalants clinically distinct from most other substance categories is that no formal withdrawal syndrome has been established the way it has for alcohol or opioids, which sometimes leads people, including some clinicians, to underestimate how serious dependence on these substances can become.

I want to be direct about the physical risk here, because I think it is genuinely underestimated. A case published in the Journal of the Nepal Medical Association documented a young man who developed a collapsed lung directly from regular glue sniffing, a stark reminder that the danger here is not limited to the neurological effects most people have heard of. Long-term use is also associated with liver and kidney damage, and in acute cases, inhalant use can cause the heart to stop suddenly, sometimes on a first use, in a young person with no prior health problems at all.

Why a Young Person Turns to This

I have sat with enough families going through this to say with confidence that it is rarely about seeking a high in isolation. The pattern I see, and the pattern consistently described in reporting on this issue in Pakistan, tends to involve a combination of real hardship: poverty and homelessness, particularly for children living on the street with no reliable access to food or shelter; family neglect or a complete breakdown in the relationships that would normally protect a child; and, quite often, a young person describing use specifically as a way to feel less hungry, less cold, or less aware of pain they have no other way of escaping.

This matters clinically because it tells us what treatment actually has to address. If we treat only the substance use and ignore the homelessness, the neglect, or the unmet emotional need underneath it, we should not be surprised when the substance use returns. Dr. Obaid Ullah Khan, who works with many of our younger patients on the psychiatric side of dual diagnosis cases, puts it plainly: treating the inhalant use without treating what is driving it is treating the symptom while leaving the disease untouched.

What Parents and Caregivers Should Actually Watch For

Because this does not involve a substance most parents are trained to look out for, it is often missed until it has become severe. A chemical smell on a young person’s breath, clothing, or in their room is one of the clearest signs, along with paint or adhesive residue on hands or around the mouth and nose. Slurred speech or a dazed, disoriented appearance that has no other explanation is worth paying attention to, as are nosebleeds, persistent coughing, or watery, red eyes that keep recurring without an obvious cause.

Beyond the physical signs, watch for sudden shifts in mood, a pulling away from family and activities the young person used to care about, and a noticeable decline in how they are doing at school. If items like glue, thinner, or aerosol cans in your home seem to disappear faster than ordinary use would explain, it is a conversation worth having directly rather than assuming the best.

How We Treat This at FCRC

Treating inhalant dependency in a younger patient looks different from treating most adult addictions, and we structure it that way deliberately.

We start with a combined medical and psychological assessment, evaluating both the physical effects of use and, just as importantly, the trauma, neglect, or unmet needs that may be driving it, through our psychiatric evaluation process. Given the potential for organ and neurological effects associated with sustained inhalant use, ongoing medical monitoring continues throughout treatment.

The therapeutic work itself happens through our youth and adolescent program, which is built specifically around the emotional and circumstantial realities of younger patients rather than simply applying an adult treatment model to a teenager. Wherever a family structure exists and can realistically be part of recovery, we bring them in through family therapy, since family stability is often the single biggest factor in whether a young person’s recovery holds over time. For patients whose inhalant use sits alongside an underlying psychiatric condition, which is common, we treat both together through our dual diagnosis treatment approach rather than addressing one and hoping the other resolves on its own.

For young people whose circumstances involve homelessness or family breakdown that treatment alone cannot resolve, we also work to connect families and patients with appropriate social support resources, because clinical treatment can only do part of the job when a young person has nowhere stable to return to.

A Final Word

I want to leave families with this. Inhalant dependency in a young person you love is not a reflection of who they are, and it is treatable, particularly when treatment looks at the whole picture rather than only the substance. If you have noticed any of the signs described here, please do not wait for things to get worse before reaching out.

Contact us or WhatsApp us for a confidential conversation about how we can help.