Solvent abuse from a health education perspective.

Abstract

1 The development of health education and preventive strategies for solvent abuse requires the adaptation of findings and data from other fields and other countries. Experience with illicit drugs suggests that simply denying access to a particularly abused substance may only serve to shift abusers towards other substances. It is, therefore, necessary to acquire evidence on which to judge the relative harmfulness of different substances. Data from the USA on the overall mortality from solvent abuse and on the relative involvement of different solvents is summarized. 2 Findings from health education researches lead to the conclusion that (a) health education is not an effective way of preventing experimentation with solvents, but (b) health education can be effective in modifying abusers' choices of substance and styles of use. 3 Combining these different types of information led to the production of a leaflet suggesting health education strategies that might reduce the likelihood of physical harm befalling solvent abusers. 4 Finally, a plea is made for reports of toxic effects from abused substances to include the kind of data that would assist the development of preventive strategies.