Action on chroming overdue

HUFFING inhalants, or chroming, is dangerous, has been known to kill, and seems to be at crisis levels among disenfranchised young people in Townsville.

Yet an adult woman, who appears to be a carer or guardian, sat there scrolling through her phone as her 15-year-old ward huffed on a can of deodorant. This went on for hours, long enough that he keeled over and paramedics had to be called.

This is abhorrent behaviour on the part of the teenage boy but even more so on his carer.

Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper, who for all his well-documented shortcomings, has led the charge locally to find a solution.

His plan is for the cans be placed behind counters and accessed only through an employee, similar to cigarettes.

He rightfully referred to the activity as “self-harm” that did serious “damage to the brain”.

As a former paramedic, he would have seen this first hand.

It’s a good plan, one which will likely get significant push back from the manufacturers of these sprays.

There is a debate to be had about why the average deodorant buyer should be denied the ability to buy an everyday hygiene product off an open shelf because of a rash of young people in search of a cheap high.

But how do you even prevent an irresponsible guardian or carer from simply letting a child sit at a park bench and abuse inhalants for hours?

The Queensland Police Service told the Bulletin yesterday that there isn’t a specific offence for what this woman has done.

If she was an employee of a service that was supposed to be caring for this boy, she should lose her job.

If she was not a paid carer, she should still be reprimanded for her blatant negligence of the implied duty of care to a 15-year-old kid.