# What kind of intoxication high do inhalants like paint and gasoline cause?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 21, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765 "2009-07-21T19:12:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/1 "2009-07-21T19:12:53Z")
Just curious. I don’t imagine it’s all that fabulous or more people would do it. What are the intoxicating effects of these inhalants?
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### Author:  [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/2 "2009-07-21T19:15:49Z")
No personal experience with this, but from the documentary _Children Underground_, about Romanian orphans living on the streets, apparently one effect that drove many of them to inhale paint was the fact that it suppressed hunger. That was an incredibly sad film.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/3 "2009-07-21T20:03:13Z")
Why do two of the ads here mention people from Paramus? Does Paramus, NJ have a large population of paint-sniffers?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/4 "2009-07-21T20:38:38Z")
It’s been a really long time, but I remember it as being dizzy, light-headed, and dissociative. In a pleasurable way.
The buzz only lasts about a minute.
It’s a very stupid and dangerous thing to do, obviously.
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### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/5 "2009-07-21T20:51:24Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> It’s been a really long time, but I remember it as being dizzy, light-headed, and dissociative. In a pleasurable way.
>
> The buzz only lasts about a minute.
>
> It’s a very stupid and dangerous thing to do, obviously.
It is a very short-lived buzz. If you’ve ever hyperventilated, or stood up too fast after having blood drawn, it’s kind of like that but a little bit different. You feel kind of away from yourself and very ‘light’, but (ideally) not like you’re about to faint.
As for hunger, I certainly believe that - it dulls _all_ physical sensation.
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/6 "2009-07-21T20:55:14Z")
It can cause strange dreams. The “dreaming” was one of the attractions. I speak from long-ago experience, unfortunately.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/7 "2009-07-21T21:01:41Z")
Looks like beyond the oxygen deprivation effects, the [other effects depend on the inhalant used](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhalants#Administration_and_effects).
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/8 "2009-07-21T21:40:24Z")
I accidentally huffed gasoline when I was a teenager, while I was helping to clean a rental suite in preparation for new tenants. (I was using it as a solvent to try to remove those awful flower-shaped non-slip stickers from the bathtub, with a half-inch or so in the bottom of the tub, leaning over it and scraping with putty knife.)
The first thing I noticed was that somebody appeared to be playing with a guitar delay & reverb pedal that had been installed between my ears and my brain. The sound of high heels on hardwood floors in the next room became very trippy. My face was flushed and I felt dizzy. When I stood up it was a little like being drunk.
These effects passed shortly and I was left with a lethargic feeling and a nasty headache.
In the past I have been an enthusiastic user of all manner of mind-altering substances, but I don’t understand the appeal of solvent abuse at all.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/9 "2009-07-21T21:50:41Z")
We huffed cleaning fluid when we were kids. It’s a very strange high and can fuck up your brain without completely killing you. I don’t recommend it, but it’s evidently the high that won’t die.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/10 "2009-07-21T21:53:28Z")
Darn it, darn it, I can’t find any references to the story with the glue-sniffing thieves and the one-armed orangutang. I can’t even remember which dumb criminal anthology I read it in. But it’s a good story, nonetheless.
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### Author:  [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/11 "2009-07-21T22:03:57Z")
It’s kind of like a puppet show with a chemical aftertaste.
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### Author:  [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/12 "2009-07-21T22:09:26Z")
I went through a short period in Junior High school where I occasionally huffed Liquid Paper. Don’t rush out and try it, I think they’ve changed the formula since then.
Anyway, what I remember was that it provided an incredible euphoria, and it also gave me the distinct feeling that my feet were wet, like I was standing in a puddle of water. It lasted for about 10 seconds. Sometimes I’d do it again immediately, but I knew that if I did it too much I’d get a terrible headache, so it was fairly self-limiting.
Fun times.
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### Author:  [@Alexwright98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alexwright98)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-intoxication-high-do-inhalants-like-paint-and-gasoline-cause/503765/13 "2018-04-20T08:37:43Z")
Had a huge problem with huffing gas about 2 years after quitting all the drugs I used to do. Life just got really hard and gas was really easy to get a hold of. First time I huffed I huffed for about 10 minutes and went back upstairs to my room and right as I laid down I felt dumb, was staring at the celine and it was waving like an ocean. After a few minutes of enjoying that I felt an overwhelming fear of something watching me. I started talking to myself and after about 20 minutes the high wore off. I huffed a few times a day for a few months and could notice a difference in my behavior. I am stuck with twitches and jitters. I can barely hold a conversation anymore and shudder and drag out words. I fell my brain deteriorating and it hasn’t made my problems in life go away. Probably the dumbest decision I made in my life