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Sniffing thinner
Around 1967, this peculiar addiction was introduced to Japan from the United States of America. At that time, various hallucinatory or stimulant drugs were in circulation among the young people of Western countries and Japanese youths, deprived of access to this fashionable but dangerous trend, turned to thinner-sniffing as a substitute. Paint thinner, composed largely of toluene, causes intoxication; the method of inhaling it is to place the thinner in a plastic bag and sniff the aromatic fumes. The side effects - nausea and paralysis of the nervous system -can be lethal. The habit is difficult to eradicate since paint thinner, unlike synthetic drugs, can be obtained almost anywhere.