Youngsters inhale petrol products to be ‘high’

Young people are reportedly inhaling petrochemical products such as petrol, diesel and kerosine in order to feel ‘high.’
The Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Akwasi Osei, who disclosed this in an interview, explained that young people involved in these acts usually went to filling stations where they intentionally stood close to fuel tanks and pumps so as to inhale the chemical products.

He said as vehicles were being filled with fuel or being discharged into storage tanks, they inhaled the fumes.

Dr Osei said that act used to be common among young people in the western countries but was recently found to be gaining grounds among Ghanaian youth in a recent study conducted among young people around villages at Pantang in the Greater Accra Region.

He said young people who were found of those acts would often open the fuel tanks of the vehicles of their parents to inhale the fumes and asked parents with vehicles to closely observe their young sons.

“When you see the fuel tank or engine of your vehicles frequently opened by your son, it should quickly arouse your suspicion,” he hinted.

Dr Osei also called on fuel station attendants to watch out for boys who hovered around fuel stations and positioned themselves close to the fuel pumps and tanks.

Dr Osei cautioned young people involved in such acts to stop immediately because they risked getting cancer from inhaling those chemicals.

“Inhaling those substances can also affect the fabric of the brain and cause you to have mental illness,” he added.

When asked what could be the motivating factor for such an act, Dr Osei, who is also a member of the Narcotics Control Board, attributed the problem partly to the movies children watched, internet usage and globalisation.

“Film makers should be able to self-censor the things they come out with,” he urged.

By Augustina Tawiah/Junior Graphic/Ghana