“Huffing” or “bagging” involves breathing in fumes from ordinary household products such as aerosol cans, glue and other solvents to experience a brief high. These aren’t illegal drugs. They’re everyday items already sitting in most homes, which is exactly what makes this trend so dangerous.

Everything parents need to know about huffing and bagging

1. There’s nothing exotic about what they’re using
That’s exactly what makes this so hard to spot. The products turning up in these videos aren’t illegal or hidden away. They’re ordinary items already sitting in most homes: aerosol cans, glue, correction fluid, and other solvent-based household products. None were ever made to be breathed in, but because they’re cheap, legal, and already under the sink, there’s no obvious warning sign, the way there might be with something illegal.

2. The first time can be the only time that matters
South Africa’s National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey found that 15% of school pupils admit to using over-the-counter substances, including inhalants, to get high. There’s a risk most parents have never heard of called Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome, a fatal heart arrhythmia that can occur the very first time someone tries it, even in a child with no history of substance use at all.

3. It was never really about getting high
Almost none of these kids are chasing a high. They’re chasing a dare, a laugh, a moment of belonging with friends watching. That’s exactly why a warning aimed at substance use can miss the mark. The conversation that actually lands is one about the dare, not the chemical.

How to talk about this trend without causing panic

You don’t need to search your child’s room or panic about every can under the sink. You need one ordinary conversation, today if you can, before a video does the explaining for you instead.

Most kids who try something like this aren’t looking for danger. That’s exactly why it’s so easy to miss, and exactly why saying it out loud, calmly, matters more than almost anything else you can do this week.

ALSO READ: ‘Chuffing’ Trend: Warning After Viral Video of Learners Inhaling From Fire Extinguisher