# Zero tollerance -- Student in trouble for inhaling HELIUM!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 7, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822 "2002-06-07T12:47:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/1 "2002-06-07T12:47:48Z")
As usual, I’m posting before finishing a cuppa joe, and my back’s to the teevee. But I just heard on KNBC-4LA that a kid (I think in the Midwest somewhere) was suspended for inhaling helium to make a funny voice. The school said the lad violated the school’s “zero tollerance policy” for “drug use”.
Since when is helium a drug? Have you ever heard of helium rehab clinics? People robbing to support their helium habit?
This is just another example of people in power being afraid to use their brains.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/2 "2002-06-07T13:33:40Z")
You’re joking about it, but helium is serious shit.
Just the other day, a dealer was arrested in Amsterdam for selling bottled farts as genuine helium.
Won’t somebody please think of the children?
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### Author:  [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/3 "2002-06-07T13:36:05Z")
I only buy farts when I can get them on draft.
The bottled/canned farts just aren’t as good.
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### Author:  [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/4 "2002-06-07T14:25:58Z")
Does anyone with brains actually ever willingly go back to elementary or high school?
And I say this with my mother and mother-in-law working in elementary and high school respectively. 🙂
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### Author:  [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/5 "2002-06-07T14:55:18Z")
My guess is that he’s in trouble because it’s [dangerous.](http://www.sci-ctr.edu.sg/ScienceNet/cat_life/cat_bph17792.html)
The schools’ drug policy may be the only thing that would cover this sort of thing, as I suppose it could be considered an inhalant.
But the good news is…
very little is known about the dangers of inhaling bottled farts, so…
Go for it! 😃
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### Author:  [@Re\_PT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Re_PT)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/6 "2002-06-07T14:56:22Z")
\
You can die from inhaling helium (anecdotal story:[sub]can’t be bothered to find a cite better than my gas safety instructor[/sub] 2 men died at a party after inhaling too many balloons). Plus most helium used for research has a 5% arsenic content to make it keep longer. That usually makes the undergrads worried…
\
I also hear it’s very good at making you high.
PT
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### Author:  [@Re\_PT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Re_PT)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/7 "2002-06-07T15:00:12Z")
Damn you, **meek** , and your providing of information between my preview and submit!
Does bottled flatulence have a best before date?
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### Author:  [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/8 "2002-06-07T15:32:36Z")
Well, Hell, I totally support a zero-tolerence policy here. Helium is a noted “gateway gas”. Kids think it’s fun to inhale a little “He”: hey no problem; everyone does it; Mr. Larkin the chemistry teacher says it’s fine. Pretty soon they want to try something a little heavier: do some argon, or maybe inhale a little krypton. Then it gets out of control and you’ve got a school full of xenon junkies and dead radon-heads in the bathroom stalls.
Noble gases my ass.
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### Author:  [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/9 "2002-06-07T16:07:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by PT \*
> \*\* I also hear it’s very good at making you high._\*
Not in the same way one may get “high” by huffing gas fumes or sniffing airplane glue… helium mainly deprives your brain of oxygen.
I doubt if you’d see any really cool colors.
You’d probably acheive the same effect by holding your breath until you almost lose conscienceness.
The school board would be better off telling the students about these dangers, rather than punishing the “offender.”
I’m sure he didn’t try it to get “high”.
[sub] **zut** - radon-heads and xenon junkies! Hilarious![/sub]
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### Author:  [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/10 "2002-06-07T16:53:14Z")
Everyone seems to ignore the role that the media has played in this- I’m sure if you go through his record collection, you’ll find a bunch of _Alvin and the Chipmunks_ albums\*.
[sub]I’m still waiting for the _Behind the Music_ on them to get the real dirt of Theodore’s eating problems, Alvin’s pathological lies, the obvious parallels between svengali Dave Seville and Colonel Tom Parker, and Simon’s resulting social withdrawal.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/11 "2002-06-07T16:58:11Z")
You folks are speculating about the effects helium has on a person…haven’t you ever inhaled a helium balloon? There is no buzz – there is no high – yes, in huge amounts, it can kill you. I don’t think it qualifies as an inhalant, as you don’t get high. My god, I wish the school administrators could see how ridiculous they look.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/12 "2002-06-07T17:34:09Z")
[http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wews/20020605/lo/1217869\_1.html](http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/wews/20020605/lo/1217869_1.html)
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### Author:  [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/13 "2002-06-07T19:38:55Z")
Oh…my…god. I just can’t believe that they made such a big deal about it. They could have just told the kid to knock it off! A bunch of us pulled a giant tank next to our table at a restaurant on New Year’s Eve and took turns hitting right off the tank, and no one croaked. I think you really have to do a lot to cause harm. Sheesh!
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/14 "2002-06-07T20:50:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Pittinger doesn’t think it’s a “crazy rule.” She said that students aren’t even allowed to bring cough drops into class without permission and that she’ll stick to that policy.
She continued, “The rules are there so that we don’t have to make judgement calls. It’s our job to instill rote learning. Thinking for one’s self is dangerous and sets a bad example. We are setting a good example by setting down rules and blindly following them. God forbid we allow a child to see an adult make a judgement call, and grow up to believe thinking is a socially acceptable practice!”
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/15 "2002-06-07T21:25:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by meek \*
> **My guess is that he’s in trouble because it’s [dangerous.](http://www.sci-ctr.edu.sg/ScienceNet/cat_life/cat_bph17792.html)**
From the article you linked:
> [@](#):
>
> Normally, inhaling helium from balloons does not cause much problems
I imagine that if you inhaled balloon after balloon after balloon all night long you could be in trouble, and anyone who sucks anything from a pressurized tank is a moron. Taking one big breath of helium out of a balloon to change you voice? I tihnk if it were that dangerous, the world probably would have heard about it before now. It seems to me that the author of the article has a slight “chicken little” thing going on.
And a kid getting suspended for this is effin stupid beyond words.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/16 "2002-06-08T00:15:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \*
> Zero tollerance
What we need is a zero tolerance policy at the SDMB concerning spelling errors. What’s that? it’s instead of its? You’re outta here!
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### Author:  [@tourbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tourbot)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/17 "2002-06-08T00:18:49Z")
Helium is an inert gas. This means there is no possible way that it can be considered a “drug”. If students can be suspended for inhaling helium, should they also be suspended for holding their breath?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/18 "2002-06-08T00:43:07Z")
You caught me, **Arnold**. I plea:
> [@](#):
>
> As usual, I’m posting before finishing a cuppa joe
Caffeine deprivation! 😃
(I was hoping no one would say anything.)
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/19 "2002-06-08T01:21:32Z")
Here’s my take on the subject, since nobody asked. I live about 15 miles South of the incident. That confers on me NOTHING. I just added it to sound impressive.
Notice, it was a Catholic School, rather than a public school. So! Are all of you prejudiced against Religious Schools?
**meek** gets points for correctly saying that schools have policies against dangerous shit. And, while some posters correctly asserted that sucking the helium out of a baloon probably won’t hurt you, schools need to err on the side of protecting kids rather than allowing behavior that _might_ endanger them. I’m not just talking about helium.
**meek** said
> [@](#):
>
> The schools’ drug policy may be the only thing that would cover this sort of thing, as I suppose it could be considered an inhalant.
Bingo!
**EchoKitty** said
> [@](#):
>
> A bunch of us pulled a giant tank next to our table at a restaurant on New Year’s Eve and took turns hitting right off the tank, and no one croaked. I think you really have to do a lot to cause harm. Sheesh!
Assuming you are an adult, what you did had no bearing on what the _seventh-grader_ did, anymore than if you sniffed coke at your table in on New Years had a bearing on what a 13-year-old did in his school.
Notice that he wasn’t suspended from school as many posters in the thread have alleged. He was suspended from recess and given detentions. Hardly Draconian punishment.
Perhaps I’m prejudiced, as I have kids in 3rd/6th/9th grade. While I think that many policies of public/private schools today are rather stupid, I think the minor punishment was justified in this case. The dad just chose to make a big deal of it and the local tv splashed it. That’s what happens these days. Local tv is so desparate for crap news that incidents such as this get promoted way out of proportion to their importance in life.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zero-tollerance-student-in-trouble-for-inhaling-helium/112822/20 "2002-06-08T04:00:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tourbot \*
> \*\*Helium is an inert gas. This means there is no possible way that it can be considered a “drug”. If students can be suspended for inhaling helium, should they also be suspended for holding their breath? \*\*
My goodness, no! As long as they hold their breath they won’t be subjected to inhaling O[sub]2[/sub]…a dangerous substance, highly reactive…even known to corrode iron!
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