FEARS OVER DEADLY CRAZE
CHLOROETHANE, also known as ethyl chloride, is used medically as a mild anaesthetic or for pain relief.
Sprayed onto the skin, the chemical – a colourless flammable gas with a faintly sweet odour – has a cooling and numbing effect.
However, it can also be abused. Inhaling the chemical in a craze known as ‘huffing’ can produce feelings of lightheadedness and euphoria.
A study published last year in the World Journal of Critical Care
Medicine warned that chloroethane, which was abused as an inhalant recreational drug in the 1980s, was regaining popularity among the young. Researchers said its ready availability online and through pharmacies had produced ‘a rising trend to use it as a “substitute” drug of abuse’.
The authors added: ‘Other acute effects include dizziness, confusion, impaired short-term memory, lack of muscle coordination and even loss of consciousness.
‘Inhaling a high dose of ethyl chloride has a depressant effect on the central nervous system. It is also used for chemsex.’
The chemical can also cause seizures and coma, and result in death from cardiopulmonary arrest.