Glue (*graphic)

I have seen some pretty difficult things to stomach in my life, but what I had to witness the other day gave me a sick feeling inside. We recruited about 20 children and confiscated 3 or 4 bottles of substances (glue, soap, and gasoline combinations). Before I get to the tough part, I will tell you that if any of the kids had looked into the office around 3p.m. they would have seen the entire staff sniffing the substances and passing them around. The thought struck Simon and I as we were figuring out what they were and then looking to find that the door was wide open. Oops. I don’t think anyone saw us, luckily.

Anywho, the new recruits are allowed to leave at will and upon leaving they are returned their substances. It baffled and infuriated me. I know the process of rehabilitation and weaning someone off of a substance if they are addicted must be considered. But being a psychology major and knowing the effects of huffing toxins on the brain, well I wasn’t a happy camper. Just to refresh you on the effects of sniffing glue (or a bunch of the smelly markers from 4th grade) the acute and chronic symptoms are:
Acute – impaired sensory ability (like being drunk), slurred speech, ataxia, dizziness, confusion, vertigo, heart palpitations, tachycardia, lung damage, & pneumonitis
Chronic – irreversible CNS, cerebral cortex atrophy, cerebellar degeneration,
peripheral neuropathy, optic neuropathy, blindness, toxic hepatitis, liver failure, & sever muscle weakness

I have seen most of the acute symptoms and the kids with them are wild, uncontrollable. And up until today (a few days after seeing the bottles given back) the acute symptoms were all that I had seen. That changed and it’s scary. A 35 year old mad who looked more like a sickly teenager came to the center. Apparently he had been there almost a decade before, but had left to return to the streets. Not only was he sickly, he had lost most of his dexterity in his hands and had a resting tremor throughout his body due to CNS deterioration. He couldn’t even grip my hand when I went to shake his upon meeting him. Speech is almost non-existent and is mostly a symphony of hysterical laughs and occasionally a slurred word or two. He won’t make it through the year as liver and lung failure are next on the list of potential symptoms.