Coimbatore: Inhalants such as nail polish removers, whiteners, have now become a menace for children with kids under the age of 12 years are now getting addicted to this stuff within a month of coming across them.
Psychiatrist Dr M S Jagadeesan also head of the psychiatry department at Coimbatore Medical College said he has noticed this new addiction issues in atleast three to four new children all aged below 12 years, TOI reports.
While some kids are addicted to Inhalants, others are addicted to mobile phone games.
Dr Jagadeesan spoke on the importance of school teachers, psychologists role in detecting such addiction in students at an early stage at the inauguration of the programme that specialised in taking care for children affected by drug abuse for teachers and school counsellors.
“Gone are the days when we assumed drug and alcohol addictions happened in college. Today we get boys from classes III and IV being dragged to us with complaints of addiction, and how it induces changes in behaviour like fights with parents and distraction,” he said.
“Teachers and counsellors should notice even the
initial small changes in behaviour like change in academic performance, change
in friend circles and behaviour,” said Jagadeesan.
He also cautioned the listeners from cutting out drugs at the “experimental stage” rather than waiting for it to become an “addiction”.
“It is important to stop a child when we see them inhaling from a whitener bottle or from a paper, playing around two-wheeler’s bike stands and opening the fuel tanks and smelling it for fun. Teachers and parents who talk to children on a daily basis and have a habit of finding out what happened in school should not have a problem stopping wrong habits in the experimental stage,” said another resource person.